Marlen Reusser abandons Tour de France Femmes on stage 1

Marlen Reusser abandoned the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on stage one, after suffering with a stomach illness, and dropping off the back of the peloton.

The Movistar rider came into the Tour unwell, and after only 65km of racing, she stepped off the bike on the penultimate lap of a finishing circuit in Plumelec.

Reusser was one of the favourites for overall victory, after she won the Tour de Suisse in June and then finished second at the Giro d'Italia Women earlier this month.

At the Giro, however, she fell sick, later explaining that she had "really, really bad diarrhoea for quite a moment".

"Sadly, now again, I ate something that made me vomit during one night, and I'm not in a good place again," she said in a press conference on Friday, the afternoon before the Tour's Grand Départ. "It's very annoying at the moment. I know that it was the dinner because I saw it all completely."

By the Movistar team bus in Plumelec, the team's sports director, Jorge Sanz, confirmed Reusser withdrew from the Tour due to stomach issues.

"We knew that it was a possibility that she could abandon today," he said. "After the Giro, she needed to recover more days than normal, but it seemed that she was recovered at the end of the week.

"The day after she came here, she started to have again stomach issues, pretty similar to the Giro d’Italia. We tried to take care of her, and to come back to 100% fitness, but it was not possible. If you are not in full condition here, you are almost dead."

Some wondered if Reusser had crashed during the opening stage; Sanz confirmed she didn't, "only Liane [Lippert]".

"The target today was to fight for the stage with Liane, and if Marlen was ok, to keep her in the fight with GC. But in a moment, both went to shit," the sports director said.

"The sun rises tomorrow, for sure, for everybody. First we have to digest this shit day, and then the next day we will think about new options. There are still eight stages to go. It’s a really, really hard Tour de France, and we will find new options.”

In a statement posted on X, Reusser's Movistar team said her priority now is to "rest and recover".

"Health is the most important thing, and we know she’ll come back stronger than ever. We are very proud of her effort and dedication. We’ll be waiting for you soon, Marlen," the team wrote.

The first stage of the Tour de France Femmes was won by Visma-Lease a Bike's Marianne Vos, who will now wear the yellow jersey on stage two.