Women's cycling needs cyclists like Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, cyclists who are not only stars and references in the race, but also outside the race, selling and explaining their work with contagious emotion and passion.
The Danish FDJ-SUEZ Futuroscope is living its best days, in golden times for cycling in his country and also for the girls. A sweet present that has a very concrete photo, that of a women's peloton under the Eiffel Tower, to bring back to the scene the Tour de France Femmes: "It was a great experience - the cyclist begins commenting -. It was the day that women's cycling had been waiting for so long. A dream come true.
"To anyone in the street who talks about cycling, they will think first of all of the Tour de France," she explains.
A feeling of happiness that grew as the days went by. "This edition was very important for women's cycling. We were aware of it, in a feeling that, day after day, became clearer".
The great Danish party in Paris
For Cecilie, that Sunday in July had an even more special significance. She took part, as we say, in the start of the Tour, but she did so shortly before Jonas Vingegaard was proclaimed winner and, to top it off, dressed in the great Danish flag, as national champion. Everyone was looking at her.
"Jonas Vingegaard was about to win the Tour and when we went out on the course, there were already a lot of people, especially Danes, whom I identified by the flags. I would have signed up to do one more lap. A lot of people recognized me by the jersey I was wearing and shouted my name. It was an incredible moment of energy," he says.
His jersey Danish champion was a fixture in the race and in all the races she took part in. For her it is "the jersey I love the colors of my flag, but it also looks big and clean, with no sponsors. It's simple. Carrying my flag in races or in training makes me very proud and it is very gratifying to carry my flag in the peloton. jersey like this.
"My jersey is cool" he repeats.
As Cecilie reminds us, "Denmark is crazy about cycling. It's the most popular sport. Winning the Tour is the icing on the cake, but we saw it at the start of the men's Tour with the amount of people who supported the race those days. Everyone is looking out for their cyclists and the nation is united on something like cycling."
A protagonist in the women's momentum
As we said at the beginning, Cecilie has distinguished herself for her unconventional charisma when it comes to talking about her profession. She is passionate and witty, like the time she described herself as a "happy dead fish" when she took the podium at the Tour of Flanders a few years ago.
In this Tour de France, it was memorable her intervention just after winning the third stage, a much desired victory, for being where it was, but more for the horrible day that the team had just lived the day before.
"That day was incredible. I will never forget it. We had had a very bad stage the day before, with Marta Cavalli crashing and losing time overall. We ended up pretty sad. But we turned it around, the next day I was able to do one of my best races ever," she recalls.
Her genius in front of the microphones, also contributes to the fact that women's cycling is in a good moment "every year is better than the previous one, we are going in a good direction. You just have to see how it is growing, getting closer to men's cycling," she continues.
For her, "the key is on television and the hours we are on screen. It's very important that people see us. It is very important to be appreciated that these are very exciting races. But we have to be patient, this takes time and we are talking about growing a sport. We'll see what happens with the awards and how they match up with the kids. It's all small steps that have to be taken."
So take note, because Cecilie invites anyone who doesn't watch women's cycling to stop by and watch: "All the races are cool, from the classics to the Tour, no matter what race."
One of her best seasons
In her third year in the FDJ-SUEZ FuturoscopeCecilie got to know in first person the material of the GobikThey have a very nice product, I see it every day on my jersey, but the normal kit has everything, it's elegant and modern and looks great in the peloton".
For her this "has been one of my best seasons ever. It was a complicated start, but luckily the team worked well at that time. I was able to recover and come back in May, I was in the Giro and Tour de France, where I won the stage, plus the overall of the Tour of Scandinavia".
The rider was one of the great cheerleaders of the World Cup in Australia: "Racing there was special, my boyfriend is Australian. The race was very hard, it was not easy to be in front with so much hardness at the end. We all wanted more and in the end everyone did their own race.
For the future, she says: "I want to be on the podium of the Tour de France and to be world champion".
These days she rests in part, because "cycling occupies much of my time and thoughts, but when I'm off the bike, I try to enjoy my family, something I love, and friends, who complete me. I also have a great time cooking".
You can bet his best recipe is yet to come.
