Lizzie Deignan has announced her immediate retirement from professional cycling following the news that she is expecting her third child with husband and fellow cyclist Phil Deignan.
The 36-year-old had previously said that 2025 would be her final season, but the joyful news has prompted her to bring that forward. Deignan leaves the sport as one of the most decorated and influential riders of her generation, with more than 40 professional victories across the most prestigious races in the women’s calendar.
“I have this life outside of cycling that gives me so much fulfilment and so much love,” Deignan said. “I’m proud of every sponsor that I’ve ever been associated with. I think that’s something that not every athlete can say, but I really represented sponsors that I feel proud to have represented.”
Her palmarès is staggering: world champion in 2015, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist in 2014, silver medallist at the London 2012 Olympics, and winner of Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Strade Bianche and the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
But her impact went far beyond the results sheet. Deignan was a trailblazer in the push for professionalism in women’s cycling, a respected leader within the peloton, and a powerful example of how motherhood and elite sport can coexist. She was among the first to return to the WorldTour after giving birth in 2018, winning The Women’s Tour the following season and topping the UCI Women’s WorldTour rankings less than two years later.
In 2021, she made history as the first-ever winner of Paris-Roubaix Femmes, riding solo into the Roubaix Velodrome in one of the sport’s most iconic performances.
“Cycling is totally underestimated as a team sport, right? I grew up in cycling and I’ve seen this massive shift that I’m so proud to be a part of, but the basics are the same,” she reflected. “You start as a domestique, you work your way up, you become a leader. Often people say, ‘Retire on the top.’ But I have no ego or necessity to retire at the top. I’m really happy to go full circle and to have ended my career as somebody that helps other people win bike races again.”
After missing the 2022 season for the birth of her son Shea, Deignan returned once more in 2023 and signed off this May with one final victory – helping Lidl-Trek to a team time trial win on stage 1 of the Vuelta España Femenina.
Deignan’s influence will long outlast her racing career, with her leadership, advocacy, and commitment to balancing sport and family setting a new standard for the generations that follow.
