The Cervélo Bigla Pro Cycling Team won the admiration of many fans by putting on a fine display of racing during La Course by le Tour de France on Tuesday.
Moolman-Pasio finished third on a mountainous day with Uttrup Ludwig fourth, also earning the best climber’s jersey for a solo attack earlier in the race.
The team’s sprinter Lotta Lepistö was the first to go into a 5-rider breakaway that got a sizeable gap. When the move was brought back on the climb, Uttrup Ludwig launched, surpassing what was left of the initial break and going on to lead the race solo.
“The team executed the plan to perfection. They are tired after the Giro but to put this performance on shows the quality of the group. Two riders on the podium, a lot of TV time for our partners and just making a good advert for women’s cycling in general, we are very happy today,” team manager, Thomas Campana said.
“Every girl can be proud of that performance today, it was an amazing show from the team,” Moolman-Pasio said. “That was a courageous attack by Cille and it caught everyone off guard. We’re all happy with the podium and the way we executed the race is getting such a good response. I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t reward the team with a win but for us, it’s all about the development of our athletes and Cille has taken another step up this year and we’ve shown we’re successful in developing brave riders. Maybe we don’t win all the races but we make a show.”
The race was made up of 112.5 kilometres featuring mountains, Bluffy, Saint-Jean-de-Sixt, Romme and the Colombière. Uttrup Ludwig made her move on the lower slopes of the Romme.
“This has been one of the best days of my life,” the Danish time trial champion said. “There was so much Danish support out there and I saw banners with my name on it, it felt like a dream leading the race and getting that crowd support. We did so well as a team. Coming from the Giro, we only had one night rest but we got up today and went full gas. The attention at this race is on another level so to show how good women’s cycling is was just perfect.”
