Lizzie Deignan still planning for golden finale despite cycling pause

This weekend, Lizzie Deignan would ordinarily be preparing for the defence of a title she never thought possible a year ago.

Just nine months after the birth of daughter Orla she eclipsed her own expectations and the rest of the peloton for the unlikeliest of victories on the Women’s Tour, and had every intention of defending it.

Instead, she is left pondering the prospect that having worked so hard to get back and even exceed her pre-pregnancy fitness levels, she might not race again in 2020.

“I try not to think about it too much and take each day as it comes but it’s possible there’s no racing this year,” she said. “But as a team and as professional riders we’re ready to go whenever we’re given the green light. I’ve certainly not given up on the idea.”

She understands that the primary concern is to get the men’s Tour de France under way, such is the wealth it creates and the attention on cycling’s blue-riband event.

But there is a level of apprehension for the women’s side of the sport, a real fear that teams could fold when so reliant on sponsors.

And she added: “I hope that with all the work the UCI have put into promoting and the growth of women’s cycling that they prioritise the women’s. It will need more help than the men’s.”

Deignan has long banged the drum for women’s cycling and, more widely, women’s sport both as an outspoken voice and with her own achievements.

But her plan this summer had been to quit the sport altogether and ride off into the sunset after Tokyo – ideally with the elusive gold medal – and then settle in Yorkshire to extend the family.

And while the sporting goal end point hasn’t shifted, the timeframe has.

“I’ll definitely come back for Tokyo – I wouldn’t just give up as it’s been too hard to get back so not going didn’t even cross my mind,” she said. “It’s just another year.”

Returning has always been about the Olympics. When she took silver behind Marianne Vos on The Mall at London 2012, the result ate away at here. Her build-up to the next Games in Rio de Janeiro blew up with her three missed drug tests and a looming ban. This time, she felt in the shape of her life.

But she has quickly readjusted the timeline and believes her previous racing delay – time out for Orla’s birth and ensuing maternity leave – will hold her in good stead.

“I know it’s possible to have a massive break from racing and come back strong,” she said. “Not many athletes have had the chance to do that. So, I’m like, ‘I’ve done this before, here we go again’. And hopefully it’s easier – there’s no baby this time!”

There remains the juggling act of family life. When coronavirus struck, her and her husband, the former Team Sky cyclist Philip Deignan, packed some temporary bags and headed from Monaco back to Yorkshire.

“I only flew back with hand luggage as I wasn’t expecting to be here that long,” she said. “It seemed a good time to go home and see family as we’d not been home for a while.”

“I’m just hoping that we properly emptied the fridge when we left. There’s bound to be something bad! But we want to get back as that’s where we live and have everything, it’s where Orla’s toys are. That’s where our base is.”

Lockdown has coincided with her daughter entering a challenging phase.

“We’re going through a tantrum phase which I didn’t quite expect,” she said. “She’ll randomly lie down on the floor with flailing arms and legs and you’re like ‘two minutes ago, you were an angel’. I’ve found myself Googling tantrums to work out what to do!”

But as a trio, they are working well, Philip also acting as Deignan’s coach – having previously self-coached before they went into a coach-athlete partnership. Of that, she said simply: “Well, he’s having better results than the last coach.”

Together, it shifts the family dimension to post-Games 2021. There has been some doubt cast over the viability of the Games even going ahead next year, and Olympic officials have said it will be cancelled rather than postponed for another year.

That, for Deignan, would mean immediate – albeit muted – retirement. “If it does happen that they cancel,” she said, “I wouldn’t be continuing to Paris and the next Olympics. It will be a case of I don’t get three Olympics but I’d still be retiring and healthy and having a good craic at it.”

Lizzie is an ambassador for specialist cycle insurance provider, Cycleplan. They are currently offering 50% of policies for all NHS workers. For more information and advice on how to keep you and your bike safe visit www.cycleplan.co.uk