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When the subject of motherhood in professional cycling comes up in conversation, Lizzie Deignan is certain to be one of the first names mentioned. After taking a full maternity leave period in 2018 to have her first child, Deignan returned to great success, winning the Women’s Tour just weeks into her comeback and going on to win the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
Having given birth to her second child in September last year, Deignan’s position as both a mother and a professional cyclist is back in sharp focus as she builds towards racing again after a year of absence.
Speaking to Cyclingnews as she prepares for her second return to racing, Deignan discussed her comeback plan, the challenges, as well as the unexpected things that come with being both a parent and an athlete.
It would be easy to imagine that Deignan might find some annoyance in being held up as a figurehead for mothers in cycling. She is, after all, one of the most successful riders in the current peloton, an athlete who is still at the top of her game – being a parent is not her defining characteristic.
However, as one of the rare examples of a female rider successfully balancing having a child and racing at the top level, she finds herself the unofficial spokesperson on the topic. This, she explains, was not something she particularly planned, but she takes the role in her stride.
“The decision to have a family, for us, was not a decision based on trying to be a role model for people or break boundaries in our sport,” she says. “It was just simply a personal decision that we wanted to start a family, and all these things come as a byproduct of that. I’m lucky enough that I’m happy to take that on and to fulfill that role of showing what’s possible, but it was very much just a personal decision. You don’t decide to have a family to break boundaries.”
As well as giving advice to her fellow riders and dutifully engaging with interviews on the subject, Deignan tries to use her social media platforms to share her experiences (opens in new tab) and reality. It’s a fine balance between sharing and oversharing, Deignan says, but she deems it better to be honest, than only show the picture-perfect side of parenthood.
“Having a social media platform or profile is kind of part of being a professional athlete now,” she says. “So I’d rather choose to be authentically who I am on those platforms and hopefully help somebody else try and combine motherhood and being…
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