The sky is the limit for Lizzie Deignan, who returns to racing eight months after the birth of her second child and continues to raise the bar for her own cycling career and pave the way for future athlete mothers across all sports.
The Olympic medallist and former world champion has revealed her hopes to compete at the upcoming Tour de France Femmes and World Championships in Glasgow, along with the Olympic Games in Paris next summer.
And there is no cap on her competitive dreams, also suggesting that if organisers RCS Sport launch women’s versions of Milan-San Remo and Il Lombardia, she would attempt to add them to her tally of victories alongside Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, to capture all five of cycling’s Monuments.
“The things that motivate me obviously the same objectives like the World Championships and Olympics, but it’d be exciting for me to take part in the Tour de France and also new opportunities that I hope are still going to come,” Deignan said ahead of Flèche Wallonne, her first race since October of 2021.
“I’m the rider with the most Monuments at the moment. So I’d like to try and go for new Monuments. We don’t have, or maybe we do, but we don’t know yet. Milan-San Remo and Lombardia. So I would love to be able to aim for five Monuments in my career, that would be special.”
Deignan won the road world title in 2015 and the Tour of Flanders in 2016, and then went on to show the world what athlete mothers can do when given the opportunity winning Liège-Bastigne-Liège and Paris-Roubaix, all after the birth of her first child in 2018.
Early return
Competing at Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April was a surprise to Deignan, who initially planned on starting her comeback to racing at La Vuelta Feminina on May 1. However, due to illness and crashes among her teammates at Trek-Segafredo, the team asked if she could prepare to be ready for the final two Ardennes Classics.
“I planned to have a bit longer to prepare for and to start in the Vuelta. I just thought that would have been an easier, nicer transition. But you know, professional sport isn’t about what’s easier or nicer all the time. At the end of the day, I’m a teammate, and it’s important for me to support my teammates,” Deingan said.
“I could see that they were struggling in terms of filling the spots because of bad luck with crashes and sickness, and it would be…
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