Lizzie Deignan announces retirement

As much focus as Cav has, rightly, got as he ended his professional career, huge credit has to go to Lizzie D for an amazing 18 year career – world champ, Olympic silver, Paris Roubaix, Commonwealth champ, success in road and track, not to mention being at the forefront of calling out much of the sexist bullshit that had (and has) held women’s cycling back for so long.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/nov/15/lizzie-deignan-to-bow-out-in-2025-i-showed-you-can-be-a-professional-and-a-mum?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Liz is/was a class rider – I’m surprised she came back more recently, but she got the results.

An amazing athlete, so talented and intelligent. Having children and getting back to the top of your sport/game, as a woman is something I admire very much.

Good luck to her in the future, she’ll be much missed.

FYI: Ned Boulting chats with Lizzie about her upcoming retirement (she’s still got a year to go!) on the latest Never Strays Far poscast

There’s a lovely story about how she started cycling.  British Cycling visited her secondary school and she was persuaded to have a go on the bikes they brought, and despite apparently having no interest in cycling previously showed real potential and was taken on to their Olympic programme.  The rest, as they say, is history.  To achieve what she has done, World Champion and winning all 3 monuments at a time when Vos, van Vleuten, Van Der Breggen were at their peak, shows what a talented athlete she was. Not forgetting she was at the forefront of campaigning to get more equality in pay and prizes. She will be missed!

She has defined the change in modern women’s cycling. A total superstar.

Her Roubaix win was sublime. One of my favourite moments in cycling.

It’s all been said already really. What a career and what a great human being!