Racing as part of a strong British national team that brought together riders from four different Women’s WorldTeams, Lizzie Deignan finished fourth on stage 1 of the Tour of Britain Women – but Deignan still went onto the podium in Llandudno as she had taken the most mountain points and will wear the blue QOM jersey on stage 2 around Wrexham.
“It was totally made up in the moment. I was in a really good position over both climbs and thought ‘if I’m there, I might as well’,” said Deignan.
The stage saw her and her teammate for the week, Anna Henderson, pull away as part of a nine-strong front group on the second classified climb. Until then, no breakaway had lasted for very long on a windswept day through North Wales.
“It was a shame since it was actually headwind the whole race. It kind of made the race a little bit more negative than the course lent itself to be, but we still got away on that second climb. It was really cool actually, really beautiful, stunning,” Deignan said about the stage.
Back in 2019, the 35-year-old already made the most of the Welsh roads, winning stage 5 of the Women’s Tour to Builth Wells and taking the GC lead before securing the overall victory the next day at Pembrey Country Park. Deignan also enjoyed the race atmosphere, passing by schools and nurseries where children were cheering on the peloton.
“It’s all about inspiring the next generation, and the best way to do that is to get in front of people and go through towns and villages where they may not necessarily know that women’s cycling even exists, so I hope we’ve inspired a few people today,” she finished.
