Lizzie Deignan lines up for an emotional farewell at the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women

Lizzie Deignan lines up in the Tour of Britain Women, a race in which she has won twice, and it is bound to mean a whole lot more to her this time, with it being her last. The 36-year-old Lidl-Trek rider announced last November that 2025 would be her final professional season, and Deignan will be hoping for a fairytale ending to her glittering career.

With the opening stage departing from Deignan’s home county of Yorkshire, Deignan told PA news agency that “I’ll feel incredibly emotional.” 

Deignan’s two victories at the Tour of Britain Women came in 2016 and 2019 respectively, highlighting how Lizzie Deignan has seen the evolution of women’s cycling evolve rapidly throughout her career with Deignan stating “I think if I had retired any earlier than now, I would have had regrets, definitely, sitting at home watching all these opportunities unfold.” 

Lizzie Deignan was on the start line for the first ever Tour of Britain women in 2014, a poignant moment as the women’s peloton had not been given the same opportunities as the men’s peloton, with Deignan herself stating “I’ve been there at the start of women’s cycling when we were fighting just to be included at races. I grew up watching the men’s Tour of Britain and there was no option for the women.”

"Now I will be at the start line with however many WorldTour teams, all the WorldTour women from the UK, representing cycling. I think it will just be a moment of reflection for me to think, gosh, how far we've come," she said.

The Otley-born rider initially considered retirement in 2020 before the Tokyo Olympics postponement and then opted for "one last dance" with Lidl-Trek this season. Her career extension coincided with significant growth in women's cycling.

"I think if I had retired any earlier than now I would have had regrets, definitely, sitting at home watching all these opportunities unfold," Deignan said. "I can be really proud and pleased with the last five, six years of my career where I've got to feel truly like a professional."

Despite winning a world championship in 2015, Deignan points to her 2020 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes and 2021 Paris-Roubaix Femmes victories as equally significant achievements because they came after becoming a mother.

"I did both of those as a mother," she said. "Just managing all the expectations and balancing everything was an incredibly difficult thing to do. And I pulled it off. So that personally is what I'm most proud of."