Revised: June 2024
- DOB
- 02/10/1991
- From
- Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire
Dan's Profile
Aerodynamics expert, performance engineer, track cyclist. There are many strings to Dan Bigham’s bow, and his role as part of the Great Britain track team is just one of them.
Bigham has ridden on both the road and the track throughout his cycling career, alongside developing his talents as an engineer in the area of aerodynamics. With a degree in motorsport engineering from Oxford Brookes University, Bigham began working in Formula One before switching to cycling.
On the track, Bigham joined the Great Britain Cycling Team in 2022, and opened his account with a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham as part of Team England’s pursuit team that also included Ethan Vernon, Ollie Wood, and Charlie Tanfield. The team went one better at the UCI Track World Championships in France, where they beat Italy to win gold – with Ethan Hayter joining the team in place of Tanfield.
Alongside his commitments with GBCT, Bigham made history breaking the Hour Record in August 2022, setting a new distance of 55.548km before it was beaten shortly after by Filippo Ganna.
2023 started strong, with two silver medals for Bigham at the UEC European Track Championships at Grenchen in Switzerland, in the individual pursuit against Italy’s Jonathan Milan – and the team pursuit, alongside Vernon, Wood and Tanfield, in which Milan and his Italian teammates, including Ganna, were victorious.
In Milton in Canada though, the team pursuit squad finally took the top step, winning gold at the UCI Track Nations Cup – this time Bigham was joined by Wood, Josh Charlton and Michael Gill.
Ganna proved a thorn in Bigham’s side once again at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Glasgow in August that year, pipping Bigham in a thrilling back and forth encounter in the individual pursuit with Bigham taking the silver medal. In the men’s team pursuit, disaster struck as a crash in qualifying took the team out of contention and unable to defend their title.
So far, 2024 has been productive for Bigham, with two gold medals secured at the UEC Track Elite European Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, in the individual and team pursuit events (the latter in a team featuring Hayter, Tanfield, Vernon and Wood). Bigham beat teammate Tanfield in a GB 1-2 in the individual event, while in the team pursuit, GB beat reigning world champions Denmark, a major result which will give them confidence ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games this summer. Most recently, the team continued their winning streak, securing gold at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Milton, Canada.
Off the track, Bigham rode for the Ribble Weldtite domestic continental team for four seasons, during which he raced a mixed calendar of domestic and European races, including winning the Darley Moor Crits 8 in 2018 and competing in the Tour of Britain.
As part of a Great Britain team, Bigham won bronze in the mixed relay team time trial event at the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, and came fourth in the same event in Glasgow in 2023.
He has worked as a consultant on aerodynamics, and most recently taken on a role as a performance engineer for the Ineos Grenadiers World Tour team.
Bigham is married to fellow cycling Joss Lowden, who herself is a former holder of the Hour Record for women. The couple live in Andorra, and welcomed their first child, Theo, in 2023.
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Selected Career Highlights to Date
2024
UEC Track Elite European Championships, Apeldoorn (The Netherlands), Gold, team pursuit
UEC Track Elite European Championships, Apeldoorn (The Netherlands), Gold, individual pursuit
UCI Track Nations Cup, Milton (Canada), Gold, team pursuit
2023
UCI Track Cycling World Championships, Glasgow, Silver, individual pursuit
UEC European Track Championships, Grenchen (Switzerland), Silver, team pursuit
UEC European Track Championships, Grenchen (Switzerland), Silver, individual pursuit
UCI Track Nations Cup, Milton, Canada, Gold, team pursuit
2022
Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, Silver, team pursuit
UCI Track World Championships, Paris (France), Gold, team pursuit
Great Britain National Road Championships, Dumfries and Galloway, Silver, individual time-trial
2021
Great Britain National Road Championships, Lincoln, Silver, individual time-trial
2019
UCI Road World Championships, Yorkshire, Bronze, mixed relay team time-trial