# Daniel Bigham

Daniel John Bigham (born 2 October 1991) is a British 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 Ribble Weldtite 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 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. 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.
His last event racing for Great Britain will be the 2024 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in October, held in Denmark.

### Hour record

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. 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. In 2023, they welcomed their first child. As of 2024, they reside in Andorra.

## Major results
### Road
#### 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
#### 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