"My normal friends knew what I’d been doing again nearly 10 years after the Olympics" - Lizzie Deignan talks about the races that shaped her cycling career

Cycling
Thursday, 14 December 2023 at 10:00
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Lizzie Deignan recently confirmed that she's not planning to retire any time soon. However she can already look back at impressive list of success, including Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders, and a World Championships road race title. In GCN mini-series, she talks about races that shaped her career.
Coming into 2012 Olympics, Deignan had just made a decision to fully commit to road. "Up until that point, I didn’t know if that was possible. I was also the first British medalist at the Games. Mark Cavendish, in the eyes of the British press, had 'failed' the day before and they'd written about it being a disaster but I pulled off a medal and everything started from there."
In 2015, Deignan had the season of her career, which was topped with a rainbow jersey. "I know that, from the outside, it looked like quite a tense race that could have gone so many ways but I felt in total control. I don’t know how to describe it but I just knew that I was going to win. Some days come together on the bike and you just know that you can respond to anything, and that was one of them. I was just on it."
Last but not least, Deignan shocked the cycling world when she won the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes with breathtaking 80km solo. "Winning that race blew things up way more than I was expecting and it was a much bigger win than me, if that makes sense. It was the victory that wasn’t about me but about women’s cycling and for all of us. I don’t know if it was a slow news day but the win was picked up everywhere and my normal friends knew what I’d been doing again nearly 10 years after the Olympics."

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