Cycling-Britain's Lizzie Deignan retires after announcing pregnancy
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's former world champion Lizzie Deignan has announced her retirement with immediate effect after confirming she is pregnant with her third child.
The 36-year-old has been the flag bearer for women's road cycling in Britain since claiming a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics and had planned to see out the season.
Her crowning moment came at the 2015 world championships when she won the women's road race in Richmond, out-sprinting Dutchwoman Anna van der Breggen for gold.
"A new chapter in the Deignan story," the Lidl-Trek team rider posted on Instagram, alongside a photo of a babygrow.
"I have this life outside of cycling that gives me so much fulfilment and so much love," she said.
"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."
Deignan enjoyed 43 professional wins, including a stunning victory at the inaugural women's Paris-Roubaix in 2021. Other notable wins included Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Strade Bianche and the Tour of Flanders.
She took a career break in 2018 after the birth of daughter Orla, and again in 2022 following the birth of her son Shea.
Her final victory came during a team time trial in the opening stage of La Vuelta Femenina in Spain.
Deignan, who also won a world title on the track in 2009 as part of Britain's team pursuit squad, has been a fierce advocate for equality in women's professional cycling, long overshadowed by men's racing.
"I feel like I've carried the torch for quite a long time now, and it's really cool that there is now a group of women ready to take over," she told Cycling Weekly this year.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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