Lizzie Deignan: The cyclist changing the narrative around motherhood in sport

This week’s guest on The Game Changers podcast is Lizzie Deignan, the professional road racing cyclist. 

The 33-year-old, who races for Trek–Segafredo, clinched a road race silver medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

She went on to become the road race world champion in 2015, also winning her second successive Women’s Road World Cup title in the same year. 

Deignan is currently pregnant with her second child, having given birth to her daughter in Orla in September 2018. As a result, the British star is sitting out of the 2022 season. 

“Trek Segfriedo actually signed me when I was six months pregnant with my daughter Orla,” Deignan explained. “They decided to set up a women’s team and I was without a team at the time that I was pregnant. 

“So they came on board, supported me through my first maternity, I came back, and then they were equally delighted when I told them that actually rather than retiring and stopping my career, I wanted to continue and have another baby. They were delighted.”

“The response has been fantastic. It’s such a difference to the way that everybody responded when I was pregnant with my daughter Orla. 

“It was quite emotional, really, that in three years there’s been this huge shift. It was just all positive and it was just really, really nice.”

After giving birth to Orla, Deignan returned to cycling in April 2019. Highlights since her return include a victory at the first ever Paris–Roubaix Femmes.

She revealed she was “absolutely shocked” by how quickly she regained her fitness after pregnancy, and credited the experience with strengthening her mindset. 

It is also a benefit that she is coached by her husband Phillip, a former professional road racing cyclist. 

“Orla and Phillip tend to stay