Lizzie Deignan: The 5 races that changed my life

Lizzie Deignan recently told us she has no plans to retire any time soon, but she is already able to look back on a long career and an illustrious list of achievements.

The 34-year-old British rider has won some of the sport's biggest races, including Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders, and a World Championships road race crown. But which ones mean the most to her?

In this special feature, Deignan selects five races – not necessarily wins – that have shaped her career, taking us back into the moment and reflecting on the impact they've had upon her.

2012 Olympic Games road race

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Lizzie Deignan - then Armitstead - with the silver medal (left) after the London 2012 Olympic road race

London 2012 was, without a doubt, a game-changer for me, my life, and my career.

At that point, I was making a living as a road rider, having decided to quit the track because the Omnium had come in and didn’t suit me. The timed events on the track weren’t right for me and my heart lay on the road at that point in my life.

I wanted to go and make a proper wage on the road and the success in 2012 meant that I could secure my future. The silver medal legitimised my dreams because it was huge, and it made me believe that I had what it took to be a professional road rider. 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.

Going into the race I was hoping for a top-10 but to perform like that on that day, with literally the best legs I’d ever had, I was so lucky. It all came together for me in terms of the conditions, the race-winning break and the way the race panned out. There were four of us in the break, and when Shelley Olds punctured it was game on because the three of us left knew that we were all going for a medal. Marianne Vos took the title with me in second but I’ll never forget the atmosphere because the crowds were four deep all the way around the course. It was insane. It’s a moment in time that I’ll always savour.

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Vos celebrates but there was more than a silver lining for Deignan

It was also the first time that my friends started to respect what I did. Before that point, they just thought that I was a bit of a weirdo who cycled because, before the Games in 2012, cycling wasn’t that popular in the mainstream. It was seen as a bit of an old man in yellow lycra sort of sport but London changed that in such a dramatic fashion. 

In terms of my life, the medal opened up so many new doors. Suddenly there was private sponsorship and more self-confidence on my part and I started to believe that I could reach another level. It also gave me a sense of justification, that I’d taken the right path. All my friends had just finished uni at that point and had started moving on but the medal proved that I’d also made the right call with my life, and my career.

Ronde van Drenthe 2014

This was the first big win that I had on the road. I’d endured a tough year after the Games in 2012 and didn’t perform like I wanted to during the 2013 season. Going into the following year I said to myself that I needed to either deliver on the promise that I’d shown in 2012 or consider my options. Honestly, I couldn’t stop thinking that maybe I’d just had a lucky day in London. That’s where my mindset was. I just wasn’t delivering the results that I thought I was capable of.

After London, I definitely enjoyed my Olympic medal and everything that came with it. I did stuff like the television show Superstars and, to be honest, I did fun things which I should have done as a 23-year-old. I didn’t have the same responsibilities that I have now and maybe I had too much fun, but I have no regrets. In 2013, though, I didn’t have a great year. There was illness and I just didn’t reach the level that I aspired to. 

It was a tough time so I put in a really hard winter, lost loads of weight, and totally focused. It paid off because I started the season in great form and smashed it in Drenthe, riding away from the bunch alongside Anna van der Breggen and then beating her in the sprint.

I remember attacking the peloton on the VAMberg climb and just thinking to myself: ‘What’s wrong with everyone? Why aren’t they following me?’ I was just on another level. It was such a nice feeling to be that strong.

That win kick-started my season and overall victory in the World Cup, and winning my team sponsor’s home race was an obvious delight for them. The confidence from that win was huge, and once you take your first big win it’s so much easier to take the next one because you believe you can do it again.

And if you’re wondering, the next TV show I’d love to do would be Strictly. I love to dance. I’d have realistic expectations but I’d love to be taught how to dance. I couldn’t do the Jungle one, not with being a vegetarian. Honestly, I’d do whichever one paid the best. I’ve got children to feed!

UCI Road World Championships 2015

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Deignan's reaction was one of disbelief but she says she could feel during the race she was going to win

I look back at that race and think ‘Who the hell was that?’ I smashed it.

The confidence, focus and delivery to be able to do what I did was incredible. I don’t know how I did it. I don’t think that I appreciated the performance at the time because I put it together myself, with the help of Danny Stam, by going out to America, riding recon over the course. Although I wore a British Cycling jersey, it was my project. To be able to beat the Dutch, in a World Championships with no teammates, was incredible.

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.

I’m really proud of that win but the jersey is actually on a coat hanger in the garage at the moment. I’ll end up doing something with it at some point, I’m sure, but in terms of changing my life, that win made all my dreams come true. To wear the rainbow jersey for a year, and to still have the bands on me as a little reminder, it’s special.

The Women's Tour 2019

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Deignan celebrates a hugely significant overall stage race victory

This win came nine months after the birth of my first child, Orla. Just the fact that I’d won a WorldTour stage race that fast after having a child, it was beyond my expectations. I was so proud to pull that off, and with it being a British race, it meant that much more.

When I came back after Orla was born I wanted to be the best again. I didn’t want to ride around and I wanted to reach that top level again but there’s a certain process that you need to go through and there’s lots of rapid changes.

I came back in the Ardennes and did fine with a few top-10s but I wasn’t dictating the racing. I was surviving. In the Women’s Tour, however, the race was mine for the taking. It was an affirmation that I’d made the right choice.

I don’t base my career on proving doubters wrong – I race for me, and for my teammates – but I have to admit, proving a few doubters wrong in that instance did feel good.

Paris-Roubaix 2021

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Lizzie Deignan crosses the line arms aloft to win the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes in 2021

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.

I think the fact that people were watching the race made a massive difference. I loved my win in Drenthe – on a personal level, it meant the world to me – but I didn’t have people coming up to me and saying ‘I remember your win in the Drenthe World Cup’. When I won that race it was a Tweet: ‘Lizzie Diegnan wins….’ and that was it, but the fact that Paris-Roubaix was on television, those things are what makes the difference. I have people come up to me all the time and say they watched that race, and that’s an incredible feeling of pride, both for myself and for women’s racing. It was still a weird time, post-pandemic, and there were no crowds, but to finally race on the iconic cobbles and to be the first-ever winner of the race, that’s a title I’ll always have.

I was there originally to work for Ellen van Dijk and Elisa Longo Borghini. Although I’d had good form that season, they were stronger coming into the race. I had no ill feelings towards being a worker because Ellen was, on paper, the strongest. It’s just how it panned out.

Where’s the cobblestone? Well, unlike the rainbow jersey, the cobblestone is in the kitchen. I’ve still not decided on where I’m going to put it permanently and I’d love to be like Fabian Cancellara and say it’s going to be on display in my home-built sauna but that’s just not the reality. Like everything, I’ll figure it out.

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Lizzie Deignan hoists the famous cobblestone trophy aloft