The energy that exudes from FDJ-Suez’s Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is palpable, even over the phone. Almost bursting with excitement for the upcoming Tour de France Femmes, it’s safe to say the Dane is looking forward to another hard-fought race in France.
‘I’m. So. Excited.’ she says, handclaps punctuating her words. ‘The countdown has been on for a while now. The first Tour de France Femmes was such an awesome experience. I mean, in some ways, it was a rollercoaster experience for myself and the team.’
The team had a less than ideal start to the 2022 edition of the race. Marta Cavalli, one of their GC hopefuls, was taken out in a crash on the second day and was forced to abandon with a bad concussion. Fortunes flipped the very next day as Uttrup Ludwig won Stage 3 into Épernay, kicking away from a reduced bunch to an emotional victory.
‘Now it’s different because we know what to expect a bit. It’s just freaking crazy. But it’s awesome and I’m excited for it. The Tour is one of the big goals this year and now it’s only a few days away. God, we’re coming close.’
Uttrup Ludwig will take to the start line in Clermont-Ferrand on Sunday alongside teammates Loes Adegeest, Grace Brown, Marta Cavalli, Vittoria Guazzini, Évita Muzic and Jade Wiel. She comes in fresh from the Giro Donne, the ideal preparation for the Tour de France Femmes given its rolling parcours, length and competitive field is hard to come by in the Women’s WorldTour.
‘The Giro was super-hard racing. It’s so fun though because you look at the stages on the map or in the roadbook and you think, mmm that doesn’t look too hard. Then you get there and it’s so funny because it’s always a surprise. You’re like “ah, fuck”. It was perfect prep though with the weather as especially when we reached Sardinia, it was hot. Hot, hot, hot.
‘But I guess the Tour will be too. I’ve had a nice time leading up to this, I’ve been home in Girona with my boyfriend and it’s been lovely, so I feel physically and mentally ready to hit it.’
The Tour de France Femmes begins in Clermont-Ferrand, central France. From there, the peloton heads southwest, through the Pyrenees and over the brutal Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet on the penultimate stage before finishing with an individual time-trial around the streets of Pau. Quite a few stages might be marked as ‘flat’, but look closer and a hilly parcours is unmasked, which very much suits Uttrup Ludwig.
‘I would like to do well on general classification. Everybody is coming into this race in the best possible shape. It will be difficult but I’m up for the challenge. This Tour is a bit different with the parcours also. We did the recon and, you know how in the beginning for the first six stages, there’s no major mountains or major climbs? It’s up and down the whole time; it’s punchy and will be tiring, you need to be focussed. Sometimes, during that recon, I was feeling a bit sorry for the sprinters.’
‘The race will split with all hills and it will be super-exciting. There are quite a few stages with a descent in the last 10km of the stage. We’re gonna be booting it down like skrrrt, left, right, left, right, boom, a hill, full gas, and I think there’s just gonna be explosions like boom, boom, boom, boom, left, right, boom, boom, boom, and who’s got the legs, who’s smart, and I think that’s awesome. When you need to just be in the moment and be in the race, like really be there both physically and mentally, just be aware of what’s happening: who’s attacking? Should I be attacking? They’re attacking now? They’re attacking too? They’re doing a leadout? Obviously then the last two days with the Tourmalet and then the time-trial in Pau will be a fun finish. It’ll be hard. Very hard. But it needs to be.’
Stage 7 of the Tour de France leaves the hills behind for a fierce 89.8km mountain stage from Lannemezzan over the Col d’Aspin (12km, 6.5%) and culminating with a summit finish on the iconic Col du Tourmalet (17.1km, 7.5%).
‘It’s going to be epic, like, phwoar… I think it’s going to split on the first climb and then it’s a fight with your inner self the whole way up. Just pushing yourself to the limit. I hope there’s going to be a lot of spectators, because when they’re there and screaming and yelling, you sometimes forget all the pain. It feels better when someone is cheering for you. Also when I see Danish people especially, with all the Danish flags I’m like, “Ah yes! Come on! I can do it I can do it! They came all the way to cheer, come on!”’
Uttrup Ludwig loves the appreciation spectators show for the peloton, especially at the Tour de France Femmes.
‘It just touches my heart, I get so emotional. This was something I was told afterwards, so I had to go back and watch, but a Danish film crew interviewed a Danish family in Épernay. They were asked why they were there, and they said they were on vacation, but they were hoping for me to win. Then I won! It was so cute and heart-warming, when I went to get the medal and teddy bear on the podium, I remember seeing their faces in the crowd. There are things that maybe you don’t appreciate in the moment but afterwards… I still think about it. It’s makes me so happy and motivated.’
There will undoubtably be thousands of spectators lining the roadside when the Tour de France Femmes begins, but there will be plenty watching on at home too, given viewing figures for the 2022 Tour de France reached 23.2 million.
‘I know that fans will be watching and to be honest, it was just incredible the amount of TV viewers that we got last year; this is the dream and hopefully it’ll increase every year. Even when the Tour will finish for the men, fans are hungry for cycling. The level is increasing every year, it’s getting more and more exciting to watch. Everyone should watch every single kilometre they can, because it’s going to be bloody awesome. And we’ll go out there and do our best to make it interesting.
‘I’ll race my heart out, leave it all on the road, I’m ready.’