Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is in a playful mood when she speaks to the road.cc Podcast but also, at times, appears a lot more reflective than she has been in the past.
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Previously one of the up-and-coming stars of the sport, as evidenced by her stomping Tour de France Femmes stage win in 2022, plus her third place in the 2023 world road race championships, she has endured a couple of very frustrating seasons.
The Danish dynamo started well in 2024 but then had a big crash in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, being run into by several riders. She described it in comedic fashion in November 2024, telling this writer exactly how it happened.
“I just remember someone crashing in front of me,” she said then, speaking in her typically animated way. “At first you are ‘fuck, fuck, fuck, I’m gonna crash.’ And then I deviated and I braked, and I was like, ‘yes, I’ve got this.’ I remember taking one foot out, and being like, ‘yes, yes, I have it. I have it. I’m not gonna crash.’
“And then they just came from behind, just smacked into me. There’s just nothing you can do when they come so fast from behind. I just remember falling right down on my bum.”
That impact proved serious: Uttrup Ludwig suffered a fractured sacrum, a bone at the base of the spine. She was off the bike for several weeks and spent almost three months away from racing. She then caught Covid on her return.
She fully expected to get back up to speed in 2025 but that resurgence didn’t happen. That’s why she appears a bit more pensive than usual when discussing what she has been through in recent years.
Fear not: the familiar spark is still there but, once the conversation turns to form and finding her way back to the top, her whole body language changes. It’s subtle but you can see how heavily it has weighed on her. Suddenly this confident, bubbly character looks a little lost.
So what happened last year to foil her comeback?
“If I really knew what was holding me back, I would have the key, and then I would come back,” she tells road.cc, laughing. “I don’t know. I think it’s a difficult question, because it was a lot of things. I think probably as well mentally… I think coming back from the trauma, coming back from a relatively hard crash, and being afraid that it could happen again.
“Because you’re not just racing on your own, right? You’re in the peloton, and often things are out of your control. If a crash happens in front of you … stuff like that.”
In truth, cycling is one of the hardest sports to control. With something like athletics, it often comes down to head and legs. But with cycling, you’ve got over 100 other competitors to deal with, you’ve got the risk of crashes and mechanical issues, you’ve got hugely challenging terrain with tough climbs, dangerous descents and jarring cobblestones and, to exacerbate the chaos a little further, you’ve also got huge variances in weather.
It’s one of the trickiest sports to navigate, let alone win.
And, for Uttrup Ludwig, the feeling of a loss of control is heightened by how her crash happened. She had stopped, she appeared to be safe, and then other riders piled into her from behind.
“At the end of the day, when we’re doing bike races and like, bombing down these descents, a lot of it is in my control, but a lot of it can also be out of your control,” she says. “I’ve been working at it, just trying to accept that fact that, yes, it is dangerous.
“But the more that you are actually thinking about it, the more dangerous it becomes, and the more stiff you also become on the bike. And the worse you actually get technically.”
Anyone who has competed will be well aware of that. Crashes produce fear, which in turn can heighten the risk of further crashes.
Try as you can, sometimes it’s hard to get out of that negative loop.
“A lot of crazy shit is going on in the world”
Uttrup Ludwig is now 30 years of age. She is in her eighth season as a WorldTour rider. Her energy and spark sees her come across as younger than that, but there is also a new depth to her personality. She picked up a very unusual hobby when she was forced off the bike by her injury and, while it may seem a little out of character, both her parents are mathematicians.
She’s been around numbers all her life and now that has become something of a side hustle.
“Basically since my big crash with the broken sacrum I got really interested in stocks,” she reveals. “I was reading a lot of books, reading a lot on the internet about how to be a stockbroker. Just buying stocks and following the market. And so that has been a big interest of mine since then.”
She also seems very world aware too, something tunnel-visioned pro athletes don’t always show. A mention of recent reports that summers could become so warm that races may have to take place much earlier in the day segues into something else.
“It’s really crazy with the weather,” she laughs. “But, I mean, in general, a lot of crazy shit is going on in the world, isn’t it?
“It’s just scary with all the wars going on and Trump doing Trump things. That’s the case, even though it feels like some of the things that are happening are so far away. But then when he’s talking about Greenland, that comes close to home, you know?
“So, yeah, it is weird. It’s weird. But then, on the other hand, at the moment, I can just try and focus on my job, which is racing as hard as I can,” she adds, laughing.
If stocks and political concerns seem very different to what you might expect from her, don’t worry: her effervescence remains. Uttrup Ludwig has been through a lot of stress to try to get things back on track and doesn’t yet have the results she used to achieve, but her joyful side is still there.
That’s clear from the interview, and also her answer to a particular question. Namely, does she ever feel pressure to perform when TV cameras show up? Is it hard to come out with the zany one liners that she has become known for?
“No, not at all! Especially because nowadays I don’t get interviewed that often,” she laughs. “So no, not at all. Honestly, I’m just myself when people ask me questions. I’m just me.
“I’m a bit silly, I’m a bit weird, but you know, it’s what you get.”
Uttrup Ludwig has made her name as a successful bike rider and also as a big personality. She clearly enjoys what she is doing, telling road.cc prior to Strade Bianche that she relishes that particular race. So too any chance to spend time in Italy.
But, had the cycling not worked out, what does she think she would be doing?
“Oh, that’s a good question,” she says. “I have actually always wanted to either become a dancer, or I would probably find acting fun.
“It’s funny, because both my parents are mathematicians. So growing up, I always had this vision that I was going to do the same. I also love maths and I love actually being behind the computer and doing programming stuff. But I don’t think I would be doing that now.
“But who knows. I mean, I’m still young! I have a long life in front of me. Who knows?” she laughs.
Who knows indeed, although she is clearly at ease with the camera. It’s not a stretch to imagine her turning her hand to acting or TV presenting once she hangs up her wheels.
“You need to improve every single year”
Thing is, talk of what Uttrup Ludwig might do next is all academic for now. She still has a lot she wants to achieve in pro cycling, starting with getting back to where she used to be.
Her Tour stage win was in 2022, and her world championships medal was in 2023. Does that almost seem like the distant past now?
“It does feel like a long time ago,” she smiles. “I’m like, that was a different Cille. But, on the other hand, I’m like, ‘I can get that back.’ I am pretty positive this year.
“Hopefully this is my year where I can come back and just like, have the fun and the joy that I had.
“This is what I love about cycling, being there, attacking like, putting other people under pressure and not being like spat out the ass. That’s what I want.”
So, given the frustrations she has gone through in the past two seasons, just what would it mean to her to get to that level again?
“Oh my God. You can’t put that into words,” she replies, smiling. “It would mean so much to me, because it has been a long time. It’s been a lot of years.
“It’s funny, because the longer it takes, the bigger of a hurdle it feels like it is. And the more you also question yourself. Like, is it even possible to come back? Because, the level in women’s cycling is also increasing so much every single year, right?
“So even if you get back to the level that you were before a big crash like that, even if you came back to the level that you were, the other girls are getting stronger. So then you’re being dropped.”
It’s a valid point; the sport is changing, expanding and becoming more and more pro, as she notes in the podcast interview. The number of strong riders is growing and so too the professionalism of the teams. That in turn puts more pressure on and requires more and more commitment.
“You need to improve every single year, because everyone else is doing so,” she says. “Which is, like, really good, but it also can be quite demotivating when you’re not feeling… Like when you feel you’re on the back foot often.”
Still, as she acknowledges, that fact plus the ordeal she has had will mean that future victories will be all the more special.
“Everyone wants to be at their A level”
Thus far Uttrup Ludwig has ridden three races this year. She was 23rd in the Setmana Ciclista Volt Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana, 26th in Strade Bianche. and 32nd in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda.
Those results are quite far off her best performances, but her team reassures: according to Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto spokesperson Beth Duryea, she felt good going into Trofeo Binda. “She was racing at the front business end of the bike race for much of it and feeling good with her progress,” they said.
Next up for Uttrup Ludwig is the Tour of Flanders on April 5th, with the Amstel Gold Race provisionally on her schedule after that.
As a strong climber with a good kick, Uttrup Ludwig could ride well there. She’s particularly looking forward to the Ardennes Classics, which are some of her favourite races of the year.
After that, the Tour de France Femmes beckons. She won a stage there in 2022 and also finished seventh overall. She’s blown away by how much the sport has progressed since she started, and so too that a women’s Tour is now taking place.
Having performed successfully there before is a source of pride and also a huge motivation.
“I think the Tour will always be a target for most of the peloton,” she says. “Everyone wants to be selected, and everyone wants to be at their A level. That counts for me too.”
If Uttrup Ludwig does get back to her best in time, riding strongly in this year’s Tour would be huge for her. It would truly underline that she has returned and, if she manages to pull off a stage win, it would also be a prime TV moment.
Given the wait and everything she has been through, imagine just how zany, wacky and wild the winner’s interview would be?
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