"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

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."