Everything about... Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig - Female cycling's most popular rider

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is a Danish professional cyclist and rider for the FDJ - SUEZ - Futuroscope team. She is best known for her popularity in women's cycling that derives from her energetic interviews and frequent display of emotions, but has aswell in her palmarès wins such as in the Tour of Scandinavia, Giro dell'Emilia and a stage win at the returning edition of the Tour de France Femmes. You can check the biography at all times by clicking here. 

Name: Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig

Born: 23 August 1995

Birthplace: Frederiksberg, Denmark

Turned Pro: 2014

Height: 1.68m

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was born on the 23rd of August 1995 in Frederiksberg, Denmark, and has became one of the most popular female riders in the peloton, aswell as one of the most successful following her talents as a puncheur, climber and classics rider. She is currently riding for the French FDJ - SUEZ - Futuroscope team where she holds a contract until 2024. 

Her pro career began in 2014 with the Danish Team Rytger. Throughout this year and 2015 she had raced at both under-23 and elite level internationally, not achieving breakthrough results but asserting herself in the peloton. In 2016 she signed with Team BMS BIRN, a fully Danish team where she began taking strong results. A long season saw her succeed at the time-trial national championships, aswell as the Tour de Feminin where she won 2 stages and the overall classification. She also made her debut in the cobbled classics, won several classifications and finished 9th at the European Championships this year.

This attracted the attention of several teams and Cervélo-Bigla Pro Cycling was her next destination. Here, she began racing a higher-quality calendar, but immediately succeeded with the overall win at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, alongside a 9th position at Strade Bianche and 3rd at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda. Between other quality results, Ludwig was the Danish ITT national champion once again, was 2nd at the European time-trial Championships, and won youth classification at both Giro d'Italia and Giro Toscana - where she finished in 2nd position.

In 2018 kept delivering the consistency, finishing 4th at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, 10th at Strade Bianche, 7th at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, and winning the Danish time-trial championships. She's also finished 6th at the Giro d'Italia, 4th at La Course by Le Tour de France, 3rd at the Giro dell'Emilia and 4th at Chrono des Nations. In 2019 she would become one of the top classics riders, riding into 5th at Strade Bianche, 3rd at both Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Top10 on all three Ardennes classics.

She was to then win the GP de Plumelec, finish 4th at the Tour de Bretagne and ride into 3rd place aswell at La Course by Le Tour de France in Pau. Into 2020 Ludwig would move on to the FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope team. It was a good move for both sides, although her season only began in late July, she rode into the win at the Giro dell'Emilia, to this day one of her biggest. She also finished 7th at Strade Bianche, 4th at the Giro d'Italia, 8th at the World Championships and climbed to 2nd place at Flèche Wallone.

In 2021 she has another consistent spring, with a 3rd place at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, 5th at Strade Bianche and Top10 results at the Tour des Flandres, Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. She won a stage and finished 6th at the Vuelta a Burgos and rode to 2nd place at La Course by Le Tour de France, beaten only be Demi Vollering on the hilltop finish in Landerneau. She rode to 10th at the Tokyo Olympic Games, 5th at the Ladies Tour of Norway and 8th at the World Championships.

In 2022 she became the Danish road race champion following a solo attack. Early in the season she finished 2nd at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana, 5th at Strade Bianche, 9th at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and 6th at the Tour des Flandres, alongside a 5th place at the Vuelta a Burgos. In the Grand Tours she's succeeded, riding into 6th at the Giro d'Italia, 5th at the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta and 7th at the Tour de France Femmes where she took a stage win on the 3rd stage into Epernay.

However Ludwig took a very important win in the summer, winning the queen stage and the overall classification at the World Tour Tour of Scandinavia. At the Wollongong World Championships she's also managed to sprint into 5th place.