'Twas the day before the biggest race of the year. The race of a lifetime for many. As tradition, the riders attend a pit of cameras, voice recorders and notebooks that make up the mixed zone for cycling press. It has the potential to be an overwhelming experience for anyone, but especially a rider with the backstory like AG Insurance-Soudal's Shari Bossuyt.
The 24-year old Belgian looked the picture of calm as we walked away from the bedlam to quietly discuss her preparation for the 2025 edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. It was a somewhat daunting event for someone who was out in the wilderness for the last two years.
Bossuyt has returned from a two-year ban after testing positive on a drug screening. She tested positive for small traces of letrozole metabolite in a test done after she won stage three of the Tour of Normandie in 2023. At the time, she was racing for Canyon-SRAM. While she maintained her innocence and pointed to possible inadvertent ingestion (through contaminated food), Bossuyt opted not to contest the ban citing the financial demands of an appeal, and was dropped by her team.
In an interview with Belga, she reflected on the impact, saying, "My Olympic dream destroyed and having to walk around every day with the 'stamp' of a doper. It's almost unbearable." Bossuyt was a promising track rider, a World Champion with her national teammate Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) in the Madison in 2022 at the age of 22. Her ban ended on June 13, 2025, and she was then picked up by AG Insurance-Soudal. Jolien d'Hoore, the team director and former pro herself, was vocal in her support of Bossuyt on social media, alluding to leaving what happened in the past, in the past.
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