Cycling icon Deignan to retire from cycling in 2025: "Don’t want to leave my children behind anymore"

In a video shared on her team’s social media channels, Deignan announced her retirement. She reflects on an impressive career filled with a long list of notable victories. "Winning the rainbow jersey is very high on that list," she says. In 2015, she became world champion in Richmond. "It demands a lot, and I had to do it all on my own. Looking back now, I think, 'Wow, who is that girl?'" Besides the World Championship in the United States, the Brit also won races like Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Strade Bianche and La Course.

She can also call herself the first female winner of Paris-Roubaix. "Roubaix was a completely unexpected victory, but the reaction afterward was bigger than expected. It was a turning point in women's cycling, and it was very special that I was the first to cross the finish line. I also won the WorldTour in the year of the pandemic, when Orla (her daughter, ed.) was one and a half years old. To consistently be the best in the world with a child at home was an impressive achievement." Later, she gave birth to a second child, a son named Shea. Her children are the main reason for her retirement. "I just don’t want to leave them behind anymore," an emotional Deignan says.

The veteran was initially known as Lizzie Armitstead but married Irish cyclist Phillip Deignan. Now that her career is coming to an end, her performances are also declining, but she doesn’t mind at all. "I don’t need to stop at my peak, I’m content to come full circle and help others win races. If I can help the next champions of the sport, I’m delighted to be part of that." Last year, Deignan announced that she would continue until age forty, like Annemiek van Vleuten, but those plans now seem to have been scrapped.