Marlen Reusser arrived at the Giro Women as a top favorite, hungry for victory. Elisa Longo Borghini herself had told us that the Swiss rider would be a tough opponent, after all, her string of positive successes left no room for doubt. In the last two months, a second place at the Vuelta and a victory at the Tour de Suisse ahead of Demi Vollering - these were numbers that were intimidating. Marlen had structured her entire season around the Giro, with each race carefully selected to be in top form, an absolutely perfect route that saw her wearing the pink jersey from the first day.

Then suddenly something broke, just like that. We thought Marlen Reusser had simply underestimated the UAE Adq attack just before Monte Nerone, that she had moved too late, after all her bronze-like face showed no signs of fatigue. But there was more to it - the Swiss athlete was not well, she was fighting tooth and nail to hold onto the pink jersey. After crossing the finish line in Imola, the strong Marlen, the inscrutable Marlen, let her emotions flow. "I'm extremely tired, I can't wait to go home and rest, I truly have no more energy left. In the last three days, I've been really struggling, I couldn't go on anymore, but I wanted to try anyway. I wanted to quit, but I couldn't do that, after all, I was wearing the pink jersey, so I gathered my strength and put on my 'poker face'. I wanted to give the impression that I was fine and everything was okay, but in reality, it was quite the opposite." Marlen says, before breaking into a cathartic cry. All the fatigue and tension of the past few days takes over.

During the Monte Nerone stage, we were particularly struck by seeing her collapse after the finish line and burst into tears. Next to her arrived Antonia Niedermaier, who tried to console her. They are not teammates, in fact, until moments before, they were both fighting for the general classification, yet at that moment, rivalry was set aside to make room for something special. "Antonia was really sweet, I admit I didn't expect it. After the finish line, I was physically and mentally exhausted, and her hug really helped me. She is very young, but her strength truly impressed me. What she did is by no means ordinary. She proved to be an extraordinary person as well as a strong athlete. I say a big thank you to her." Marlen added, who yesterday morning wanted to thank the white jersey winner on social media for the precious support received.

While Marlen tells us about her difficult days of racing, the speaker announces yet another award for Elisa Longo Borghini. The Swiss looks at her with teary eyes, she could have been in her place, but we know, things don't always go according to plan. "Elisa is incredibly strong, she fully deserved her victory, and my saying that I'm tired is absolutely not an excuse for my poor performance in recent days. Wearing the pink jersey was special, I realized a beautiful dream. I don't know how things would have gone if I hadn't been so unwell, but I certainly would have fought, and who knows, maybe I would have been in pink, but it's hard to say how it would have gone. I had a lot of fun fighting with Elisa, it was really nice, I would like to challenge her again. Next year, I want to try again, I want to succeed in winning the Giro," she tells us before saying goodbye, and we await her for a new assault on the Giro.