The British cyclist Elizabeth Deignan (Trek Segafredo), former world champion and winner of Paris Roubaix and Liège Bastogne, put on a number again in the recent Fleche Wallonne after giving birth to her son Shea on September 24, and now announces its participation in the Women’s Tour from May 1.
In the La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es peloton there will be 161 cyclists, each with their particular story. The current owner of the rainbow jersey Annemiek van Vleuten or the national reference Mavi GarcÃa will stand out for her quality; Fans will be captivated by the story of Kristen Faulkner, a former ‘trader’ born in Alaska, or Femke Beuling, who will make her professional debut in the Spanish round after a life dedicated to speed skating.
If there is a woman who will stand out because her life path goes far beyond sport, it is ‘Lizzie’ Deignan, born in Armitstead (1988, Otley, Great Britain). She competes in the ranks of the Trek-Segafredo team and has been among cycling’s elite for more than a decade.
A roller with peak power that allows her to be effective both on hills and sprints, her record is a collection of top-level events: Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Course by Le Tour de France…
Deignan’s sporting life has known three zeniths. The first, when she was very young, in the online event at the London 2012 Olympic Games: she won silver, losing the sprint for gold with Marianne Vos. The second, in her early maturity, was the World Championship that she won in 2015 in Richmond (Canada). The third, in her second maturity, was her overwhelming triumph in the first edition of the women’s Paris-Roubaix held in 2021.
Between Richmond and Roubaix “Lizzie” spent a blank year because she and her husband Philip conceived their daughter Orla, who was born on September 23 of that year. Her return to her highest level was an example for many cyclists who doubted whether it was possible to create a family while competing, and also for those teams that were wary of seeing their riders pregnant.
Four years and one day after Orla came into the world, her brother Shea arrived. Only seven months have passed since that September 24 and ‘Lizzie’ Deignan has already participated (and finished) the Fleche Wallonne and the Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
In just one week he faces his next challenge, La Vuelta. The last day she rode a bike while pregnant was the day before she gave birth.
“I was cycling from the first to the last day. Yes, during the last week I used the roller, but before that I almost always went out on the road. At the end of the pregnancy it is almost easier to ride a bicycle than to walk. For me, cycling is a way easy and natural way to move the body,” says Deignan.
The British cyclist began to seriously ride a bike at the age of 15, without any kind of family tradition with this sport.
“I was not born in a cycling family, I started in a talent detection program of the British Cycling Federation (British Cycling), an event that changed my life. The London 2012 Games were approaching and British Cycling began to look for young people cyclists through the schools, particularly girls. They gave me several tests and ended up selecting me for the training program”
Almost 20 years pedaling daily, the bike is an essential part of his daily life.
“Yes, that’s right. I think that, as pregnant women, we have the right to decide which activities are risky and which are not. For people who do not practice cycling, seeing a pregnant woman riding a bike can be shocking because they consider it dangerous However, in my case, I think that not having ridden a bike would have been even more dangerous, specifically for my mental health,” he explains.
According to Deignan, “nine months is a long time to give up physical exercise. Every time I went out on a bike, I did it with the utmost caution: never in the hottest hours, nor on busy roads. But yes, I needed to ride a bike to keep my head in place”.
From the birth of Shea, the British cyclist took “about four and a half weeks to return to activity.”
“Doctors normally recommend waiting six weeks after giving birth to exercise in order to give your body time to recover, but it was too long for me. At first I did very short outings, and only when I really had time and my body to I couldn’t really train until Shea was nine weeks old because my days had no structure, I depended on him.”
Once back on the road, it took Deignan about three months to regain his ability to train. “At the beginning I had to get used to pedaling without my belly, and also, taking care of a newborn requires so much energy…
“I guess every pregnancy is different. I recovered much sooner from Orla’s pregnancy than from Shea’s pregnancy. This second pregnancy I gained more weight and felt much more tired; I rode less and lost more fitness. Some say that A boy’s pregnancy takes a bigger toll than a girl’s; in my experience, it was like that.”
