Strong showing by Bigla at La Course by Le Tour de France, as Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig takes a podium place

Early on Friday morning Bigla took to the start of La Course of Le Tour de France. This year's 121km long parcours led around Pau over five laps of hilly terrain. Each round featured two climbs, the Côte de Gelos and the Côte d'Esquillot, the last of which came about 11km before the finish line. 500m before completing each round, a 100m long and 17 per cent steep ramp on the Rue Mulot had to be conquered by the riders. 

Right from the get-go, a group of 12 riders, including Elise Chabbey and Nikola Nosková escaped and put a minute between them and the peloton. With 45km remaining until the finish, the breakaway was caught, and on the penultimate steep ramp the peloton split into several groups.

There was a flurry of attacks and with 30km ahead of the finish,  a group of five riders, including Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, broke free from a reduced field, but were brought back shortly afterwards. A soloist then launched an attack, but in the last 10km, Bigla and a few other teams put the hammer down to catch up to her. In the end, Cecilie managed to make it into a small group of chasers that pursued the rider up front.

On the last steep ramp, her escape came to an end when Marianne Vos attacked and surged towards the finish line to take the win. Cecilie sprinted away from the remaining riders to take a well-deserved third place. Elise Chabbey was also awarded the prize for the best climber, and so made Bigla’s second appearance on the podium at La Course. The team rode a very solid race today, being in the breakaway and always riding actively at the front of the field. These efforts were ultimately rewarded with the QOM prize and a podium finish.