Deignan Back To Her Best With Liege Win

Yorkshirewoman praises her team as she races on instinct, reports James Shrubsall

- James Shrubsall

Just in case there was any doubt, Lizzie Deignan showed emphatically that she was back to her best on Sunday when she won Liege- Bastogne-Liege Femmes with a 30-kilometre solo breakaway. The Trek-Segafredo rider, who has already won La Course and GP Plouay post-lockdown, bridged across to the breakaway and then attacked again on the climb of La Redoute and soloed to the finish, surviving a tense battle towards the end with Grace Brown (Mitchelton-Scott), who gave chase behind and came within nine seconds of Deignan at the end.

It is her biggest win since returning to the sport after giving birth to her daughter in 2018, and puts her at the top of the Women’s WorldTour rankings.

“I’m really, really happy! What a team performance and I was the lucky one who got to finish it off,” Deignan said after the race.

“Anna Plichta and Tayler Wiles did an amazing job looking after me in the beginning. I didn’t have to worry that it was pretty dangerous and wet. They delivered me perfectly in position to where I eventually jumped to the break that Ellen [van Dijk] was in.