“I've definitely got further to go, that's why I'm optimistic about my performance" - Lizzie Deignan impresses on World Championship return finishing 6th

Eight years on from her victory in Richmond, the now 34-year-old Lizzie Deignan was once again in the mix for the Rainbow Jersey at the 2023 Glasgow World Championships.

A lot has happened both on and off the bike in the years since with Deignan only returning in April of this year after an 18-month absence in which the Brit welcomed her second child into the world. “As a team, I think we rode really well. We were always with the moves and we were just out gunned in the finaI,” she said post-race to Cycling Weekly. “It wasn't anything other than not having the legs to follow the best in the world."

Finishing sixth on the day, Deignan was well in the mix right into the final few kilometres even going on the attack at one point before Lotte Kopecky soloed to victory. “I've definitely got further to go, that's why I'm optimistic about my performance and I know, kind of the ups and downs that have come before this," she says. "And like I say, there's no such thing as perfect preparation, but a solid winter I think will make all the difference.”

“I'm really pleased with my performance and tactically, I think I did what I could,” she added. “Today, we were hoping for rain and actually it was dry and warm and fast and the break that I was in didn't stick, I burnt a few matches there and then it just kind of felt a bit relentless.”