A cyclist entered the Roubaix velodrome alone on October 2, 2021. She had a breakaway of 82 kilometers. She went first, with her long braid, through all the stretches of cobblestones, wet and dangerous from the rain. That light blue runner was about to make history. She was going to be the winner of the first edition of Paris-Roubaix. Never before had they dared to organize the hell of the North for women. But before receiving the great cobblestone Elisabeth Lizzie Deignan (1988) she was already a symbol.
A global emblem and an example to follow. That was a victory for all the high-level athletes who want to be mothers without losing competitiveness, who want to have a family without giving up their career, who stop to get pregnant and who return in style. Deignan did it once and now he intends to do it again. She has been contesting the women’s Vuelta España since Monday after reappearing on April 19 in the Flecha Wallona.
The British cyclist was a personality in her country. In 2012 she hung silver at the London Games in The Mall (behind only Vos). Three years later she won the World Road Championships in Richmond. With her success in the velodrome she completed the three female monuments: Flanders (16), Liège (20) and Roubaix (21). Neither Sanremo nor Lombardy have yet organized their counterpart test for women, but while they decide she also signed up for the Strade Bianche Donne (16). She also won the one day stage of the 2020 Tour de France.
In 2018, she took a hiatus when she became pregnant with Orla. That was not an obstacle for the Trek-Segafredo team to sign her. In September she was born her first daughter. And she, despite the changes in her body, returned to the pedals and became one of the best classics in the peloton.
Now, at 34 years old, she intends to repeat the play after giving birth in 2022 to a child, Shea. “According to my experience, the pregnancy of a son takes more of a toll than that of a daughter,” she confessed to the La Vuelta media. In addition, Deignan breastfed the child for the first six months, so until March she could not do training sessions of more than three hours.
The English is full of praise for her team. “They have continued to pay me my full salary – World Tour teams are obliged to do so for three months and can spend 50% in the next five – which has avoided any concern. They have been very flexible with me. They have not pressured me to compete again. They have been very patient and understanding,†she reveals.
Cycling has always been present at home. She has been married since 2016 – she took her last name – to Philip Deignan, an Irish cyclist who retired in 2018, coinciding with Orla’s birth. He raced in the Ag2r, Cervelo, Radioshack and Sky. Curiously, her best result was the victory of a stage, in Ãvila, in the 2009 Vuelta, which she finished ninth. She at 35 she hung up the bike to participate in parenting while her partner returned to cycling for the first time. “I didn’t want to continue halfway, so I’m happy to give my full support to Lizzie.” The Vuelta is not very adapted to her conditions and it comes soon but Lizzie Deignan, who is twelfth behind Marianne Vos, another legend, 15s, only knows how to win big.
