Homecoming QUEEN

Having announced her retirement earlier in the year, Britain's best female cyclist of the modern era sits down with Owen Rogers to reflect on a remarkable career

- Owen Rogers

When Lizzie Deignan started the Copenhagen Sprint in June, only she and her husband knew it would be the final race of her long, glittering career. It was 20 years ago she achieved her first major result, a silver medal in the 2005 Junior Track World Championships. More track success soon followed. After moving to the road in 2011, she ended up bagging 43 road victories, winning the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and, of course, the 2015 Road Race World Championships. This makes her the most successful British Classics rider, male or female, of her generation.

Deignan turns 37 on 18 December, and this was always due to be her final season, but she left Denmark with no fanfare. Later she announced on Instagram that she knew before the race that she was pregnant with her third child, and that her time racing bikes was done. Cycling Weekly went to visit Deignan at home in Yorkshire, where, after a coffee in a rainbow-bands-adorned cup, we chatted about her stellar two decades in bike racing.

You've moved back to Yorkshire from Monaco. How was the transition?

Monaco served a purpose, but being home is lovely. I love the people. I can't go to a supermarket without having a conversation with a stranger, which wasn't the case in Monaco. People are very open and warm, and then you've got the countryside, the greenness. And I suppose there's something about your roots - it's a physical feeling. When I land into Leeds Bradford Airport, there's an exhale for me: I'm back.

Your last race was in Copenhagen in June. How is retirement?