“Next year will be my 18th season as a professional. It’s a long time to dedicate your life to being an athlete. I'm ready to live in my comfort zone.”
Lizzie Deignan draws a deep breath in before she tells me that 2025 will be the last year she plans to spend as a professional cyclist. We’re speaking over a fuzzy Zoom call, but I can still sense the composed finality in her voice as she gives me an explanation for her retirement. This is a decision she’s thought about for some time.
“I would like to go for a bike ride and not worry about suffering. That is the reality of being a professional athlete, which I think, unless you've been one, it's hard to put that across to people,” she says. “Sometimes, people would say: why on earth would you retire? It's such an amazing way to make a living, and it absolutely is, but it's not coffee rides. It is relentless. It is suffering every day.”
The British woman’s announcement comes as news to me, and may be a surprise for many, because Deignan is still close to the top of her game. As well as playing a crucial team role for Lidl-Trek, 2024 saw her finish 12th at the Olympics, third at the National Championships and fight for stage wins at the Tour of Britain Women. But once you have been a world champion and won races like the Tour of Flanders, Strade Bianche, Paris-Roubaix Femmes, Trofeo Binda and Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes, Deignan points out that racing for minor places doesn’t cut it.
“On occasion, there have been some big results this year that almost could have happened, but I suppose there's no interest for me in coming top five or top 10 in a race that I've already won,” she states.
Deignan can, in fact, pinpoint the exact moment when she came to the realisation that her chapter as a professional cyclist was drawing to a close. It involved a stormy evening in Glasgow last January, a diverted flight, and a sleepless night.
“I was coming home from training camp and I was on a flight that got diverted to Glasgow instead of Leeds. I landed into the eye of a storm and got home at five o'clock in the morning,” Deignan remembers. “The kids woke up at seven o'clock in the morning, and it was straight back into real life. I just thought, I am pushing the boundaries too much here. I'm trying to be the best athlete I can, the best mother I can, the best wife I can, and there's nothing left. I can't sustain this anymore. It was literally just one day, one flight to Glasgow airport.”
Although she cites her busy schedule as a mother as one of the factors in her decision, Deignan is clear that family life isn’t the main reason why she wants to retire. The 35-year-old describes a feeling from “within” which has told her it is time to step away from racing.
“I think it'd be really easy to blame the kids,” Deignan laughs. “It would be a great excuse. But if I was still desperate to win, we would manage it as a family, but I’m not. It’s weird when your identity for the last 18 years has been somebody who is willing to go the extra mile, push themselves and then suddenly you realise you don’t want that any more. I don't feel the need to strive for that excellence. I've reached my limit in the sport, I've done everything I can, and I think it's just time to step away.
“When I was at my best and striving to be world champion or striving to win things, it didn’t often feel like a sacrifice, but that’s started to creep in a little bit,” she continues. “I think we're talking about percentages, minimal details, but those are the details that make you be the best in the world. Your discipline carries you through. I can definitely push myself, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that it was harder than it's ever been to do that, because the will to win isn't the same as it used to be.”
Deignan admits that she had considered retirement at the end of this year, but that she has found motivation in the new role she has taken on as part of Lidl-Trek, which is why she will keep racing until the close of the 2025 season. While she was originally signed to the team as a race winner, 2024 saw Deignan embody a road captain role, guiding younger riders on the team and being crucial to general classification contenders such as Gaia Realini. It’s a testament to Deignan’s character that she can slip easily into the role of a domestique, despite her illustrious palmarès.
“I started out as a worker, as a domestique, and I grafted my way up to the top. I don't have an ego. I don't have any issues with being a domestique. Cycling is a team sport, and everyone has their value for different reasons, and I'm happy to slot into the team in a different role,” Deignan states. “Being a team captain or helping out the younger riders is something that motivates me. Although I am no longer motivated for myself to win certain things, I am absolutely motivated to see other women achieve their potential. That's quite a nice way to finish my career.”
It’s fair to say that Deignan has had a big influence on both the current and future generations in women’s cycling. She blazed a trail when she came back from giving birth to her first child, Orla, to win Paris-Roubaix Femmes, and has been a spokesperson for maternity leave and equality. The women’s side of the sport has been transformed in recent years, and Deignan has been a crucial part of that change.
“I come from a family of feminists, so it was always very normal for me to make decisions based on what was best for me, without considering where my gender came into it. I owe a lot to my family for the upbringing I had in terms of propelling me into the decisions I've made,” Deignan says.
“When I decided to start a family, I never consciously thought I was going to change cycling – it’s been a bit of a bonus byproduct. It feels a little bit fraudulent to take too much responsibility for it, when actually it was just a selfish, emotional decision that wanted to become a mum. But now I think, if I reflect on the things that I said no to at the time when I became pregnant, the fact that I knew that I was worth more than the experience I had when I first became pregnant, I'm proud of myself for for sticking up for myself and the impact that's had for other people.”
Characteristically modest, Deignan adds she is grateful to have been able to witness the changes in women’s cycling and is thankful to those who came before her, too. While she started out on a salary of just 200 euros per month, she explains that those who helped her in the infancy of her career were doing so out of pure passion and love for the sport. Without them, Deignan believes, we would never have come this far.
“Everyone who was in women's cycling back then was doing it because they absolutely loved the sport, and because of that, I learned from a lot of very honest and passionate and committed people, and I really value those experiences,” Deignan says. “I owe a lot to lots of women who have pushed for the equality that we now have. We're still not 100% there, but we're unrecognisable compared to when I started. I'm in one of the most professional sports there is and earning a living from my sport, which is still not something many sportswomen can say, so I feel privileged. There was a solid amount of time where I was earning no money and just relying on volunteers and favours, but we're a pretty incredible place now.”
As the Otley-born rider reflects on the early days of her career, there’s a sense that she can scarcely believe how much things have changed. Deignan won her road world title in 2015 in Richmond, taking the rainbow jersey in a reduced bunch sprint ahead of Anna van der Breggen – a result she points to as the highlight of her career, but one she got without a support system even close to the one she benefits from now.
“I remember there was the ‘Project Cav’ going into Copenhagen [Mark Cavendish won the 2011 World Championships in Copenhagen]. He had this whole team around him. I basically went to Richmond and did ‘Project Lizzie’, but off my own back really,” Deignan reflects. “Looking back now I think wow, I was 25 years old and I went into the World Championships as favourite and I delivered. I think, who was she? I’m so proud of that day.”
Deignan’s career is particularly impressive for its longevity: it was six years after winning the world title that she took victory in the inaugural edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes. To be able to remain at the pointy end of the peloton even as the sport has developed is something that few riders can do, and it’s what has turned Deignan into a household name in the world of women’s sport. She notes that increased television coverage of races that she’s won has skyrocketed both her personal profile and women’s cycling in general.
“Roubaix was one of the first races people could watch a substantial amount of which was slightly frustrating for me, because I’d won Flanders and Strade Bianche too but all those were just highlights packages,” Deignan says. “It’s crazy that Roubaix stuck in so many people’s minds for the simple fact that they were able to watch it. Thankfully we haven’t gone backwards since then, it was a real turning point for the sport.
“I remember I crossed the finish line and it just blew up. It was crazy. I had friends who have absolutely no interest in cycling contacting me that day, and it was one of those days where I was on my phone until four o'clock in the morning trying to reply to everyone. When I woke up to start Roubaix, I had no idea about the 24 hours I had ahead of me.”
Proper and complete coverage of races is something that Deignan sees as imperative to keep the sport growing. She believes that telling the stories in women’s cycling, from the rivalries to the friendships, will both retain and attract fans. Helping to continue to drive forward this development is something that Deignan believes she could see herself doing after her retirement – she is keen to state how thankful she is to all those who have helped her in her own cycling career, and wants to pass this on to the next generation.
“I definitely feel like I'm ready to stick my teeth into something new. I think what I've realised is that I love being part of a team, so I'd like to continue with that in some way. I love bringing out the best in people and seeing people thrive,” Deignan says. “If you spend time with young women you see the different pressures they have since I first started and I’ve noticed that self-confidence is a huge thing that's lacking. To be able to help, particularly young women, with their self confidence is something that I really enjoy. How that looks or what shape that takes, I don't know, but perhaps it’s working with women in sport.”
Deignan laughs that she speaks with her husband, Phil, about a different idea of what she will do in retirement every day, joking that he can barely keep up with all her different plans. She still has one, final farewell season in the peloton to get through in 2025, but Deignan seems, above all else, extremely excited about what will come next. The 18 years she has spent as a cyclist have shaped her entire being, but rather than her retirement representing an ending, Deignan sees it as a new beginning.
“I think I know the challenges that are ahead of me, but I feel like the next chapter is waiting for me, and I'm just really excited,” Deignan says. “I think I'll miss the day to day structure, but I think I'll be quite proactive in making new goals and doing new things. I'm definitely expecting there'll be some emotional moments but I'm excited to figure out who I am without a bike.”
(Cover image: Jojo Harper)
