Saturday 27 July marked a historic moment with the start of the Olympic road cycling events, a day dominated by the exceptional performance of Australia’s Grace Brown.
The time trial, which opened the road cycling competitions, saw 35 women compete, including two team riders: Grace Brown for Australia and Cécilie Uttrup Ludwig for Denmark.
C’est le contre-la-montre qui a donné le coup d’envoi des épreuves de cyclisme sur route, avec 35 athlètes féminines, dont deux membres de l’équipe FDJ-Suez : notre spécialiste Grace Brown sous les couleurs de l’Australie et Cécilie Uttrup Ludwig représentant le Danemark.
The course ran from the esplanade des Invalides in Paris to the Alexandre III bridge over a distance of 32.4 km. Grace Brown set off at 15:19, proudly displaying the colours of Australia and finishing the course in 39 minutes and 38 seconds. She not only took the lead, but also opened up an impressive gap of over a minute and thirty seconds ahead of England’s Anna Henderson and American Chloé Dygert.
This resounding victory is the fruit of a great deal of effort and symbolises an extraordinary achievement. Our congratulations go to her coach, Flavien Soenen, who has been a pillar in making this Olympic dream a reality, and to the entire technical staff.
As for Cécilie, she also showed her resilience, completing the course in 44 minutes and 10 seconds despite a crash, which put her in 24th place in the women’s time trial.
The next date for Grace and Cécilie is Sunday 4 August, when they will line up at the start of the women’s road race, which will start and finish at the Trocadéro.
The following day, we’ll also be keeping an eye on the start of the track events with the participation of our French rider, Marie Le Net.
