Daniel Bigham

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

Racing career 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.

Bigham rode for UCI Continental team from 2018 until 2021. 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, 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.

Alongside Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon and Oliver Wood, Bigham won silver in the team pursuit at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. 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, where, with Ethan Hayter, Vernon and Tanfield, he also won a team pursuit gold.

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. In September, it was announced that he would be retiring from competitive cycling to focus on a new role as Head of Engineering at .

His last event racing for Great Britain was the 2024 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in October, held in Denmark. He took bronze in the individual pursuit, where he raced against long-time teammate and competitor Charlie Tanfield.

Hour record On 1 October 2021, Bigham rode at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland to break Bradley Wiggins's British national hour record. 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. 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.

On 19 August 2022, Bigham broke the hour record with a distance of 55.548 km at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen. 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. Bigham was a central part of the team in Ganna's attempt, 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 Bigham studied motorsport engineering at Oxford Brookes University. Bigham is married to fellow cyclist Joss Lowden, former holder of the women's hour record.

Major results Road

2016 3rd Beaumont Trophy 2019

4th Beaumont Trophy 5th Time trial, National Championships 2021 2nd Time trial, National Championships 2022 2nd Time trial, National Championships

Track

2017 National Championships

1st Team pursuit, UCI World Cup, Minsk 2018 1st Team pursuit, UCI World Cup, London 2nd Individual pursuit, National Championships 2019 National Championships

2nd Individual pursuit 2020 National Championships

2nd Kilo 3rd Individual pursuit 2021 British hour record: 54.723 km 2022

2023 1st Team pursuit, UCI Nations Cup, Milton UEC European Championships

2024 UEC European Championships

1st Team pursuit, UCI Nations Cup, Milton