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Daniel Bigham

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Daniel Bigham
Bigham in 2018
Personal information
Full nameDaniel John Bigham
Born (1991-10-02) 2 October 1991 (age 33)
Newcastle-under-Lyme, England
Team information
Disciplines
  • Track
  • Road
RoleRider
Rider typeTime trialist (road), Pursuitist (track)
Amateur teams
2016Planet X–Northside
2017Brother DriverPlan NRG
2018Ribble Pro Cycling
Professional team
2019–2021Ribble Pro Cycling[1]
Major wins
Track
World Championships
Team pursuit (2022)
Hour record 55.548 km (19 August 2022)
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Men's track cycling
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2024 Paris Team pursuit
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Team pursuit
Silver medal – second place 2023 Glasgow Individual pursuit
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Ballerup Individual pursuit
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Apeldoorn Individual pursuit
Gold medal – first place 2024 Apeldoorn Team pursuit
Silver medal – second place 2023 Grenchen Individual pursuit
Silver medal – second place 2023 Grenchen Team pursuit
Men's road bicycle racing
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Yorkshire Team relay
Representing  England
Men's track cycling
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 2022 Birmingham Team pursuit

Daniel John Bigham (born 2 October 1991) is a British racing cyclist,[2] who has predominantly competed successfully in individual and team endurance track events, winning gold medals at national, European and world championships.

Racing career

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Bigham won his first national track cycling titles in 2017, in the team pursuit, individual pursuit and kilometre time trial disciplines, also helping Great Britain to UCI World Cup victories in the team pursuit in 2017 and 2018. He won further track medals at the national level in 2019 and 2020, and in 2021 broke the UK men's hour record (see below). Also in 2021 and again in 2022, he took silver on the road in the men's individual time trial. At the 2022 British National Track Championships in Newport, Wales he won another British title, winning the individual pursuit.[3]

Bigham rode for UCI Continental team Ribble Weldtite from 2018 until 2021.[4] He then gained national attention being the figurehead of the Huub-Wattbike trade team. Despite their lack of budget and operating outside the British Cycling set-up, they achieved great success on the track, winning UCI World Cup events and bringing a variety of technical and strategic innovations to the team pursuit,[5] before changes were made to trade team eligibility rules.

Since 2022, he has worked for Ineos Grenadiers as a performance engineer, helping the team's riders improve their aerodynamic performance.[6][7]

Alongside Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon and Oliver Wood, Bigham won silver in the team pursuit at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.[8] Following success in the team pursuit, Bigham has also competed in the individual pursuit at several international championships, winning silvers at the 2023 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and 2023 UEC European Track Championships, and then a gold at the 2024 UEC Championships,[9] where, with Ethan Hayter, Vernon and Tanfield, he also won a team pursuit gold.[10]

He has regularly raced against his Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Fillipo Ganna, most notably during their hour record attempts and at the 2023 UCI Track World Championships.[5]

In early August, Bigham shared that he would be leaving Ineos Grenadiers once the Olympics were over, having reportedly become disillusioned with the team's setup under new management.[11] In September, it was announced that he would be retiring from competitive cycling to focus on a new role as Head of Engineering at Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe.[12][13]

His last event racing for Great Britain will be the 2024 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in October, held in Denmark.[14]

Hour record

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On 1 October 2021, Bigham rode 54.723 km (34.003 mi) at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland to break Bradley Wiggins's British national hour record.[15] He was ineligible to attempt the UCI record because he was not enrolled in the UCI's Registered Testing Pool anti-doping system, including a biological passport.[16] While all World Tour riders and ProTeam riders are in the testing pool, Bigham estimated it would cost him £8,000 to join as an individual.[17]

On 19 August 2022, Bigham broke the hour record with a distance of 55.548 km at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen.[18] Bigham held the record for just shy of two months; Filippo Ganna registered 56.792 km in October 2022, surpassing Bigham's mark by more than 1 km.[19] Bigham was a central part of the team in Ganna's attempt,[20] using the engineering knowledge he had developed in his own record to aid Ganna.

Ganna and Bigham met in the final of the individual pursuit at the 2023 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, with Ganna edging Bigham for gold by a fraction of a second.

Personal life

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Bigham studied motorsport engineering at Oxford Brookes University.[21] Bigham is married to fellow cyclist Joss Lowden, former holder of the women's hour record.[22][17] In 2023, they welcomed their first child. As of 2024, they reside in Andorra.[23]

Major results

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Road

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2016
3rd Beaumont Trophy
2019
3rd Team relay, UCI World Championships
4th Beaumont Trophy
5th Time trial, National Championships
2021
2nd Time trial, National Championships
2022
2nd Time trial, National Championships

Track

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2017
National Championships
1st Individual pursuit
1st Kilo
1st Team pursuit
1st Team pursuit, UCI World Cup, Minsk
2018
1st Team pursuit, UCI World Cup, London
2nd Individual pursuit, National Championships
2019
National Championships
1st Team pursuit
2nd Individual pursuit
2020
National Championships
1st Team pursuit
2nd Kilo
3rd Individual pursuit
2021
British hour record: 54.723 km
2022
Hour record: 55.548 km
1st Team pursuit, UCI World Championships
1st Individual pursuit, National Championships
2nd Team pursuit, Commonwealth Games
2023
1st Team pursuit, UCI Nations Cup, Milton
UEC European Championships
2nd Individual pursuit
2nd Team pursuit
2nd Individual pursuit, UCI World Championships
2024
UEC European Championships
1st Individual pursuit
1st Team pursuit
1st Team pursuit, UCI Nations Cup, Milton
2nd Team pursuit, Olympic Games
3rd Individual pursuit, UCI World Championships

References

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  1. ^ "Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Daniel Bigham". Cycling Archives. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  3. ^ "2022 National Track Championships". British Cycling. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  5. ^ a b www.eurosport.com https://www.eurosport.com/geoblocking.shtml. Retrieved 12 January 2024. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ^ Benson, Daniel (3 January 2022). "Dan Bigham joins technical staff at Ineos Grenadiers". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Dan Bigham". Ineos Grenadiers.com. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Men's 4000m Team Pursuit - Finals - Gold". Birmingham 2022 Detailed Results. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
  9. ^ "Emma Finucane and Dan Bigham win gold at track European Championships". BBC Sport. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Great Britain's men win team pursuit gold at European Championships". BBC Sport. 12 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  11. ^ Cary, Tom (2 August 2024). "Team GB star to leave Ineos Grenadiers: 'They should be doing things better'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  12. ^ Price, Richard (12 September 2024). "Olympian retires to take up cycling team role". BBC. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  13. ^ Thewlis, Tom (4 September 2024). "Dan Bigham becomes Head of Engineering at Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe after leaving Ineos Grenadiers". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  14. ^ "11 Olympic medallists to represent Great Britain at Tissot UCI Track World Championships". British Cycling. 7 October 2024. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  15. ^ "Dan Bigham breaks Bradley Wiggins' British Hour Record". cyclingnews.com. October 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Inside UCI". Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  17. ^ a b "Dowsett: It's desperately unfair that Bigham can't go for official Hour Record". 28 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  18. ^ "Dan Bigham sets new UCI Hour Record of 55.548km". VeloNews.com. 19 August 2022.
  19. ^ "Filippo Ganna smashes cycling's hour world record". BBC Sport. 8 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  20. ^ Fletcher, Patrick (5 October 2022). "Project Ganna – Dan Bigham the mastermind of plot to take down his own Hour Record". Cycling News. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  21. ^ Witts, James (14 February 2022). "Speed dating: Joss Lowden and Dan Bigham profile". Cyclist. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  22. ^ "News: Joss Lowden Breaks Women's Hour Record". 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  23. ^ "Dan Bigham". British Cycling. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
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Preceded by UCI hour record (55.548 km)
19 August 2022 – 8 October 2022 		Succeeded by
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