Elizabeth Mary DeignanMBE (néeArmitstead; born 18 December 1988) is an Englishtrack androad racing cyclist, who last rode professionally forUCI Women's WorldTeamLidl–Trek.[5] She was the2015 World road race champion. She is regarded as the best British female road cyclist of her generation, scoring a total of 43UCI race wins.[1]
Deignan was a member of the gold medal-winning team pursuit squad at the2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, her second appearance at a senior world championship event. She also competed in the scratch race, where despite being brought down in the closing stages of the race, she jumped back on to claim the silver medal. She completed the championships with a full set of medals, winning bronze in the points race whilst riding with her right wrist numb and strapped up – she was only able to move her forefinger and thumb.
Having had to move teams in the past two seasons due to teams disbanding, Deignan signed for theBoels–Dolmans team for the 2013 season.[17][18] Her 2013 season was affected by a recurring stomach illness which was eventually diagnosed as a symptom of ahiatal hernia.[19] Even with her well documented medical concerns, Deignan emerged victorious at theBritish National Road Race Championships inGlasgow – claiming her second white, red and blue jersey.[20]
In April 2014, it was announced that Deignan had renewed her contract withBoels–Dolmans until the end of 2016.[21] Deignan enjoyed a career-best year, starting with a win at theOmloop van het Hageland. A week later she also won the firstWorld Cup race of the season, theRonde van Drenthe, after teammateEllen van Dijk closed a significant gap for her in the final kilometres of the race.[22] At the third World Cup race, theTour of Flanders, she finished second behind van Dijk. Deignan took part in the inauguralLa Course by Le Tour de France in Paris on 27 July 2014, but crashed with 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) to the finish.[23] A week later she won thewomen's road race at theCommonwealth Games.[24] Armitstead, overhauledEmma Pooley with 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) to go to win her first major gold medal.[25] Deignan won the UCI Women's Road World Cup with a race to spare on 24 August 2014.[26] An 8th-place finish in theOpen de Suède Vårgårda was enough to secure the overall title.[27]
For the 2015 season, Deignan stated again her intention to build towards the UCI Road World Championships. She claimed the first overall win of her career taking the Ladies Tour of Qatar stage race, as well as winning two stages. Deignan then went on to take victories at the one dayWorld Cup racesTrofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio andPhiladelphia Cycling Classic, along with theHolland Hills Classic.
In June, Deignan was forced to pull out ofThe Women's Tour after colliding with a group of photographers seconds after winning the first stage of the tour in Suffolk.[28] However, ten days later she had recovered sufficiently to win convincingly theBritish National Road Race Championships for the third time[29] taking her to the top of the UCI world rankings.[30] In August, she sprinted to victory in the final World Cup race of the season, theGP de Plouay, to retain her World Cup title ahead of her main challenger,Anna van der Breggen.[31]
In 2016, Deignan avoided a ban from cycling that would have prevented her from competing in theOlympic Games. The charges against her were that she missed three drugs tests within a 12-month period (20 August 2015, 5 October 2015 and 9 June 2016), an offence that could have led to a four-year ban. However, at theCourt of Arbitration for Sport, Deignan argued that the first missed test was not a fault of her own but rather that of the testing authorities. She accepted the other two instances. The CAS agreed with her on the first count, and it was declared not to have been a missed test, clearing her to compete.[44] The decision has drawn criticism from various quarters.[45]
In a 5 August 2016 interview, she said she believes that people will doubt her status as a clean sportsperson forever.[46] Worldsquash championJames Willstrop wrote in defence of Deignan, arguing that the complexity of testing procedures can easily lead to missed tests and noting that she had 16 clean tests in 2016.[47]
Deignan endured a difficult start to her 2017 season: after finishing third at Strade Bianche, she fell ill, which hampered her training. However, her form picked up for theArdennes classics, finishing second to team-mate van der Breggen in theAmstel Gold Race,[48]La Flèche Wallonne Féminine[49] andLiège–Bastogne–Liège.[50] She subsequently took her first win of the season on home ground at theTour de Yorkshire in April, crossing the line solo almost a minute ahead of her nearest rivals.[51] She took another solo win at the British National Championships on theIsle of Man in June, attacking from a small group with two laps of the 6.7-kilometre (4.2-mile) finishing circuit remaining alongsideKatie Archibald andHannah Barnes: the trio caught and passed race leaderElinor Barker with 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) to go, with Deignan breaking away immediately afterwards to take her fourth senior national road race title.[52]
The following month, she finished second atLa Course by Le Tour de France, finishing behind winnerAnnemiek van Vleuten on theCol d'Izoard: she stated that she was "surprised" by her performance, having never enjoyed success on a mountaintop finish before.[53] In August she took her first World Tour win of the season at theGP de Plouay – Bretagne, breaking away from rivals alongsidePauline Ferrand-Prévot on the final climb, before outsprinting Ferrand-Prévot to cross the finish line first. She became the third woman to win the race twice, alongside Vos and Pooley.[54] However, the remainder of her season was disrupted shortly afterwards after being struck withappendicitis whilst competing in theHolland Ladies Tour.[55]
Deignan was chosen to be part of the UK's cycling squad at the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she contested the road race withAnna Shackley as a teammate.[56] The race finished with an unexpected winner inAnna Kiesenhofer of Austria, with Deignan finding the conditions humid and difficult. She finished 11th in the race.[57]
In early October, she went on to win theParis–Roubaix Femmes with a solo breakaway of more than 80 kilometres (50 miles),[58] a victory described by commentators as one of the greatest Roubaix rides of all time.[59] Deignan therefore became the first woman to win a 'triple crown' of all women's Monument classics, having won the2016 Tour of Flanders for Women, and the2020 Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes.
In February, Deignan announced that she would sit out the 2022 season, as she was pregnant with her second child.[60] She also announced she had signed a contract extension withTrek–Segafredo to return to racing in 2023.[60]
In June, Deignan won the Mountains classification in theTour of Britain Women having held the position from stage one[61] to the end of the four-day race.[62] She was selected to represent Great Britain at theParis Olympics,[63] finishing 12th in what was her fourth Games appearance.[64] On 15 November, Deignan announced she would retire at the end of the 2025 season.[65][66]
In May, Deignan won the stage 1team time trial atLa Vuelta Femenina with herLidl–Trek teammates.[67] In July, Deignan announced that she was pregnant with her third child, and was therefore retiring from professional cycling with immediate effect.[68][69]
She married fellow professional road racing cyclistPhilip Deignan in Otley on 17 September 2016.[70] The couple have two children: a daughter, born in September 2018,[71] and a son, born in September 2022.[72]
She splits her time between Otley andMonaco.[10] Deignan has been apescetarian for ethical reasons since the age of ten.[9][73]
In 2015, Deignan was nominated for the2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, following her world championship victory; she finished tenth, with approximately 22,000 of the 1.009 million votes cast.[75]
^Richardson, Simon; Cleverly, Ian (27 June 2009)."Cooke wins 10th national title".Cycling Weekly. Time Inc. (UK) Ltd Sport & Leisure Network. Retrieved9 August 2012.
National Criterium Championships
Young rider classification,Giro d'Italia Femminile
Points classification
Road race,Commonwealth Games
Road race
Sprints classification
Combination classification
OverallUCI World Cup
Road race,Commonwealth Games
Mountains classification
Road race
Team time trial
OverallTour of Qatar
Points classification
Team time trial
British rider classification
Points classification
OverallUCI World Tour
Mountains classification
Mountains classification
Scratch
Points race
Team pursuit
Points race
UCI Road World Champions –Women's road race
European Track Champions –Women's scratch race (U23).jpg)
