Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig

The FDJ rider and her male counterparts, from Jonas Vingegaard to Mads Pedersen, are at the top of the sport.

[Mads Pedersen](https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/tour-de-france-2022-mads-pedersen-wins-from-the-breakaway-with-vicious-turn-of-speed-on-stage-13), who finally lived up to the promise he displayed winning the World Championships in 2019; he won a stage at the Tour, too, and then three at the [Vuelta a España](https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/vuelta-a-espana). “But we have so many great cyclists at the moment, there’s enough people that can deliver a great season. It helped that the startlist was a little weaker thanks to the Tour having just finished, but it was still not a result to sniff at. “I would say we haven’t seen the level that cycling is at now ever; I dare say that even in the 90s they were not as good, and there weren’t as many great cyclists as there are now. “Year-by-year we’re [women’s cycling] getting more viewers, and it also is down to the fact it’s more accessible now, something that has only happened in the last two years,” Uttrup Ludwig says. Meanwhile, [Magnus Cort dazzled in the polka-dot jersey](https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/its-the-magnus-cort-show-how-dane-enacted-last-minute-plan-to-thrill-home-crowds) at the Tour, and also won a stage. “The Tour definitely stands out as the highlight of the season. “I didn’t know I had won until I had almost crossed the line. It was a period that came out of decades of instability and uncertainty in Denmark; out of a dearth came a blossoming, a whole new landscape, a new age. It also followed an opening couple of days of the Tour where things had been tough for Uttrup Ludwig’s FDJ-Suez- Futuroscope team, with her losing lots of time on GC on stage two, and Marta Cavalli being forced to abandon. However, at the forefront of Denmark’s Golden Age of Cycling, which is happening right now, is a woman, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. To walk around Copenhagen’s Statens Museum for Kunst, its version of the National Gallery, is to see a country that had confidence, a purpose, a role in the world.