'Risk big and you win big,' Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig willing to risk all at the Tour of Flanders
After finishing third in 2019 the Danish rider has a stronger team than ever to help achieve a first WorldTour win

Teamwork and course knowledge will be the deciding factor at Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, according to Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig.
Sunday’s FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope team will be the strongest squad the charismatic Danish woman has led on the Belgian cobbles, and she is hoping they can dictate the race.
In 2019 she finished third behind Italian sprinter Marta Bastianelli (Alé-BTC Ljubljana), but Uttrup Ludwig knows she will need to risk all to take the win.
“She [Bastianelli] was flying and at the end I didn’t have any more energy, that was all I had to give, but it’s not a good idea to come home with a sprinter,” Uttrup Ludwig told an online press conference. “It’s super cool to get WorldTour podiums but now I think I really want to go for the win, and I would rather risk it and then get 20th. So you either risk big and you win big or you lose big.”
>>> Driver arrested after hitting Becky James’ sister Ffion in Wales
In recent years FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope have steadily been internationalising their roster with the aim of having a 50/50 French and international squad. As part of that policy, Uttrup Ludwig joined last season and the team now has the depth to take on the bigger teams.
Emilia Fahlin joined in 2019 but has lacked form after suffering an injury, but her 2021 results have been improving each race, and last weekend the former Swedish champion finished sixth at Ghent-Wevelgem.
The addition of the hugely versatile Marta Cavalli has also proved a boon for the French squad. The Italian can compete in bunch kicks, bagged eighth at Strade Bianche, and also finished 10th and 11th in the two most recent editions of De Ronde. Uttrup Ludwig too has been going well, with top five finishes in Strade Bianche and Trofeo Binda.
“This is something that will play in our favour,” said 25 year-old Uttrup Ludwig. “In the end having multiple cards to play is always an advantage, it’s going to be super cool because I think we will start with cards to play.
“It will be about having numbers, and you’ll probably also see good team tactics because when the bunch is getting small in the final, if you still have two teams that have four or five riders even they can play the cards. If you only sit with one or two it’s hard to go on every attack so you have to choose which one you go to, and sometimes it’s luck that you chose the right one. Sometimes you’re not choosing the right one and then the race has gone.
Despite the increasing depth in the women’s peloton, SDWorx and Trek-Segafredo are still the strongest, but as we saw at Dwars Door Vlaanderen anything can happen anywhere.
The bunch will tackle 13 climbs and five other, flat cobbled sectors through the 152.4km race, with the traditional closing double of Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg often decisive. Uttrup Ludwig expects the action to start much earlier however.
“I think the final will play out before the Kwaremont, and often also winning race move has gone just after Hotond, but also everyone so keen and so motivated to be in the top 10 when we turn right into Kanarieberg because that is the start, so then you have to be ready.
“You need to know the course and you need to know your opponents.”
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Owen Rogers is an experienced journalist, covering professional cycling and specialising in women's road racing. He has followed races such as the Women's Tour and Giro d'Italia Donne, live-tweeting from Women's WorldTour events as well as providing race reports, interviews, analysis and news stories. He has also worked for race teams, to provide post race reports and communications.
-
-
Lotto Soudal pins Tour de France hopes on 'one of the fastest riders of the peloton', Caleb Ewan
Caleb Ewan, Philippe Gilbert, Andreas Kron and Tim Wellens all make the team's Tour de France lineup
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
How much prize money do riders get for winning the Tour de France?
There was around €2.3 million up for grabs in the 2021 race, with Tadej Pogačar the largest earner
By Tim Bonville-Ginn • Published
-
Despite giving up sprinting for signs third place earns Longo Borghini Women’s Tour victory
The Italian champion finished third in the bunch sprint in Oxford earning enough bonus seconds to take the overall
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
'It’s not the way we want to end it' says Lorena Wiebes after her third Women’s Tour stage victory
Despite the victory equalling the Women’s Tour records of Marianne Vos and Join D’hoore th team worked for Charlotte Kool on the final stage into Oxford
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
Elisa Longo Borghini wins the Women’s Tour by slender bonus seconds margin
Bonus seconds taken in the final bunch kick took the Italian to a one second overall win
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
£50K of bikes and kit stolen from Trek-Segafredo in second theft in two weeks
American team lose two bikes and other equipment stolen from their team truck parked at a Swansea hotel
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
Grace Brown hangs onto to the Women’s Tour overall by the thinnest margin
With the top two on equal time going into the final stage the race is set for a fascinating tactical battle
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
'I never gave up in my head': Pfeiffer Georgi's fight for DSM glory at the Women's Tour
After two stage wins and one day in the leader’s yellow jersey, Lorena Wiebes finally lost a race on Thursday
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
Inside the DSM sprint train which makes Lorena Wiebes the world’s best sprinter
Dutch neo-pro Charlotte Kool happy to lead Lorena Wiebes to victory after blaming herself for the stage one crash
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
Women's Tour stage finish branded as 'dangerous' after crash mars the final
Late crash mars another WorldTour success for FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope
By Owen Rogers • Published