Marlen Reusser has recently spoken out forcefully against doping in cycling, emphasizing the importance of integrity for both the sport and her own sense of fulfillment and categorically rejecting having ever considered to resort to it.“Not at all. Simply because I don’t need it,” Reusser said in an interview to SRF Kultur Sternstunden when asked if she’d ever been tempted to dope. “I play the cycling game, I want to measure myself and enjoy everything in it. If I won knowing I cheated, I wouldn’t feel joy. A huge part of what I love would fall away.”
Her clear stance comes against the backdrop of the proposed “Enhanced Games,” set for 2026, where athletes could compete without any restrictions on performance-enhancing substances. Reusser doesn’t shy away from her opposition.
“I’m extremely glad doping is banned for us, and for good reasons. It’s very unhealthy and risky; you can die or suffer serious damage. As an athlete I’m glad I don’t have to.”
For Reusser, the pressure to perform is already immense, even within the boundaries of legality. “Without altitude training you can’t compete at the top level. So we’re constantly at altitude or in a tent at home,” she explained, revealing that she too uses an oxygen tent at home. “I have a tent at home and spend weeks in it. There’s simply less oxygen – simulated altitude – and everyone does it. Sometimes I think if we all just agreed to put that aside, we could be at home normally. That would be wonderful.”
Crucially, Reusser’s main objection to legalizing doping is the pressure it would place on every athlete. “If everyone doped, I’d have to as well just to compete, and I’d have to accept those harms. I don’t want that.”
She acknowledges road cycling’s inherent risks, but makes a clear moral distinction: “I know I could die there [on descents]. I accept that. But if people, with clear information, choose to accept doping risks and are allowed to, who should forbid them?” Still, she concludes the Enhanced Games are “a very bold experiment.”
Reusser has really had a season to remember. The 34-year old moved to Movistar Team in 2025 after spending 3 years with Team SD Worx – Protime, mostly carrying domestique duties for Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky.
With Movistar, she reached the best level of her career, finishing in second place in both the GC of the Vuelta a España and the Giro d’Italia and winning 11 races in total, including Vuelta a Burgos, Tour de Suisse, World and European Championships time trial.