Latest news with #LizzieDeignan
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
BBC to broadcast live 2025 Women's Tour of Britain
BBC Sport will broadcast live this year's Lloyds Women's Tour of Britain as part of its Women's Summer of Sport coverage. The four-day race across England and Scotland begins on 5 June and will be aired live on the BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app. Several of Britain's best riders will compete in the event, including two-time winner Lizzie Deignan and her Lidl-Trek team-mate and 2024 Olympic silver medallist Anna Henderson. Leading prospects Cat Ferguson of Movistar and Imogen Wolff, who rides for Visma-Lease a Bike, are also involved. As part of BBC Sport's Women's Summer of Sport coverage, the Women's Euros, Women's Rugby World Cup and World Athletics Championships will be live across the BBC alongside Wimbledon, The Hundred cricket tournament and the tennis at Queen's, where women will compete for the first time in more than 50 years. "The Tour of Britain Women will be another great moment for women's sport this summer and we're delighted to bring this event to fans across the UK through our popular digital platforms," said Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport. "The BBC has a strong track record of backing women's sport. Not just the victories, but the stories, the grit and the passion behind them. And as the UK's most-used sports broadcaster, we're proud to shine a spotlight on this race and its great cyclists." The Tour of Britain Women was rescued by British Cycling last year after being cancelled in 2023 because of funding issues. Stage one: Thursday, 5 June, Dalby Forest to Redcar Stage two: Friday, 6 June, Hartlepool to Saltburn-by-the-Sea Stage three: Saturday, 7 June, The Scottish Borders Stage, Kelso to Kelso Stage four: Sunday, 8 June, The Glasgow Stage
BBC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
BBC to broadcast live 2025 Women's Tour of Britain
BBC Sport will broadcast live this year's Lloyds Women's Tour of Britain as part of its Women's Summer of Sport coverage. The four-day race across England and Scotland begins on 5 June and will be aired live on the BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and of Britain's best riders will compete in the event, including two-time winner Lizzie Deignan and her Lidl-Trek team-mate and 2024 Olympic silver medallist Anna prospects Cat Ferguson of Movistar and Imogen Wolff, who rides for Visma-Lease a Bike, are also part of BBC Sport's Women's Summer of Sport coverage, the Women's Euros, Women's Rugby World Cup and World Athletics Championships will be live across the BBC alongside Wimbledon, The Hundred cricket tournament and the tennis at Queen's, where women will compete for the first time in more than 50 years."The Tour of Britain Women will be another great moment for women's sport this summer and we're delighted to bring this event to fans across the UK through our popular digital platforms," said Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport."The BBC has a strong track record of backing women's sport. Not just the victories, but the stories, the grit and the passion behind them. And as the UK's most-used sports broadcaster, we're proud to shine a spotlight on this race and its great cyclists."The Tour of Britain Women was rescued by British Cycling last year after being cancelled in 2023 because of funding issues. Tour of Britain Women 2025 stages: Stage one: Thursday, 5 June, Dalby Forest to RedcarStage two: Friday, 6 June, Hartlepool to Saltburn-by-the-SeaStage three: Saturday, 7 June, The Scottish Borders Stage, Kelso to KelsoStage four: Sunday, 8 June, The Glasgow Stage
BBC News
20-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Deignan, Henderson and more set for Women's Tour of Britain
Several of Britain's best riders will compete in June's Lloyds Women's Tour of Britain, including Lizzie Lidl-Trek team-mate and Olympic silver medallist from last year's Paris Games Anna Henderson will also take on the four stages across England and Scotland, from 5-8 June. Also starring are two of British cycling's brightest prospects Cat Ferguson of Movistar and Imogen Wolff, who rides for Visma-Lease a Elynor and Zoe Backstedt also compete, for UAE-Team ADQ and Canyon-Sram Zondacrypto respectively. Deignan, 36, is retiring at the end of this season after an illustrious career which includes twice winning the Tour of Britain Women and many of the sport's biggest races, including the inaugural Paris-Roubaix in 2021 and a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics."I have such special memories from this race and over my career I have had a lot of success here," said Deignan, who won in 2016 and 2019. "This will be my final Tour of Britain so it will be bittersweet but I am going to be surrounded by some incredible women."The UCI World Tour race sees a peloton of world-class riders - including peerless sprinter Lorena Wiebes of the Netherlands - take on stages in the north east of England, including Hartlepool, and in Scotland, finishing in won last year's junior UCI Road World Championships in Switzerland, and is seen as one of the best young talents on the Women's World Tour. The 19-year-old won last week's Navarra Women's Elite Classic one-day race while Wolff, also 19, won stage three and the young rider's white jersey at the Vuelta a Extremadura Femenina in Tour of Britain Women was rescued by British Cycling last year after being cancelled in 2023 because of funding race is known for being one of the few races which pays equal prize money - relative the number of stages - to the men's event. The Tour de France Femmes - women's cycling's biggest race - pays its winner 10% of that of the men's event, at 50,000 Euros. Tour of Britain Women 2025 stages: Stage one: Thursday 5 June, Dalby Forest to RedcarStage two: Friday 6 June, Hartlepool to Saltburn-by-the-SeaStage three: Saturday 7 June, The Scottish Borders Stage, Kelso to KelsoStage four: Sunday 8 June, The Glasgow Stage
Independent Singapore
24-04-2025
- Sport
- Independent Singapore
Motherhood for female cyclists: No longer a career-ending choice
Professional cycling is seeing a notable rise in the number of athletes who are becoming mothers, showing it's possible to balance parenthood with the intense physical and mental challenges of top-level competition. These women are redefining what it means to be a professional athlete by challenging the assumptions about the limitations of motherhood in high-performance sports. Athlete's assumptions about motherhood Earlier, female athletes believed that becoming a mother would be the end of their career. Spanish cyclist Ane Santesteban said in an interview published by her Laboral Kutxa team, 'You had to choose between motherhood and professional sport. It was either one thing or the other.' Joane Somarriba from Spain retired in 2006, long before the current wave of support and visibility for athlete mothers was available. Her experience reflects a time when combining a professional cycling career with family life was deemed difficult. She said, 'I started considering (becoming a mother) at age 30, right in the prime of my career… I raced for two more seasons and then retired to focus on motherhood.' She added, 'I had seen firsthand how other riders had to leave their children with their grandparents, how they could hardly spend any time with them, and I wanted something different.' Some 'mother athletes' in cycling Lidl-Trek's British rider Lizzie Deignan made headlines by winning the prestigious Paris-Roubaix race after becoming a mother, showing that winning form is still achievable post-pregnancy. Her teammate, Ellen van Dijk, also demonstrated remarkable resilience and dedication as she competed in the Paris 2024 Olympics less than a year after giving birth to her son. She continued to prove her form by finishing on the podium at the Amstel Gold Race recently, further emphasising that mothers can be winners at the highest level of professional cycling. As Head of Performance at Lidl-Trek, Josu Larrazabal, said, 'Sports science is still developing its literature on female performance, particularly in relation to motherhood.' Two riders from the Movistar team, Aude Biannic and Arlenis Sierra, are currently on maternity leave. This shows that it is common for elite cyclists to step away from the sport temporarily in preparation for motherhood, but they will then return. Also, many female cyclists remain highly active during pregnancy, often training until the very end. Van Dijk was on her bike just two days before giving birth and was back competing just five months postpartum, immediately making her mark with a time trial victory. Lizzie Deignan rode till the day before she went into labour. She took seven months off before returning to deliver a stunning performance to win Paris-Roubaix in 2021. These are some examples of the incredible physical and mental strength of athletes-turned-mothers. Elite female cyclists no longer have to choose between motherhood and racing — now, it's just another part of the journey.
