Tour de France Femmes 2022 pro bikes: Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig's Lapierre Xelius SL

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has so far been a showcase of brilliant racing, with the women's peloton finally able to fight it out on the biggest stage in cycling.

One such moment of outstanding racing came on stage three, when Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig stormed past race leader Marianne Vos on the uphill finish in Épernay to take an emotional stage win.

The Dane had suffered a disastrous day before, losing significant time in the general classification as well as seeing her team-mate and another race favourite Marta Cavalli forced to abandon the race following a horrible crash.

As well as winning resplendent in her Danish national champion's jersey, Ludwig  was also riding the FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope Tour de France Femmes special edition Lapierre Xelius SL.

We managed to get hold of her bike ahead of the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes in Paris for a closer look at the setup she's using this week.

First off, aside from the Xelius' unique shape with the seatstays moulded further down the top tube, the most noticeable part of this bike is the carbon frame's colourway. 

The frame has a design specially created for the Tour de France Femmes, with the initials of each stage start and finish of the race colourfully emblazoned on various parts of the frame. The FDJ logo has had a splash of colour added it as well; the green and blue tint designed to represent sponsor Suez, a water, sanitation, and waste collection company.

Up front, Ludwig is using the Lapierre proprietary Combo UD carbon aero integrated stem and handlebars, covered with Prologo bar tape. 

She's using a K-Edge out-front mount and though her computer isn't pictured, she's been using one of the bigger head units Garmin has available, the 1030.

Unlike Marianne Vos' Tour de France Cervélo S5, Ludwig has had access to the latest 12-speed Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9270 groupset, as you can see from the shifters and the drivetrain further back.

As a Shimano sponsored team, FDJ riders have no mix and match parts of their groupset, it's Dura-Ace across the board.

Ludwig is using a 52/36 chainset with built-in power meter up front and what looks like an 11-30 cassette at the rear.

The Lapierre carbon seat post is topped with a Dimension Nack saddle, Ludwig's seat of choice from sponsor Prologo.

As well as the groupset, Shimano also provides wheels for the team and Ludwig's choice on the flat Paris stage was the deeper Dura-Ace C60 wheels.

The wheels are shod with 28mm Continental Grand Prix 5000S TR tubeless wheels in the tan-wall edition, which we think look great.

Elsewhere Ludwig is using Shimano Dura-Ace pedals and has some sleek black and white Elite bottle cages that match the frame.