Irish ex-pro Philip Deignan and his wife Lizzie have
confirmed they are set to become parents again. They announced the news today,
Wednesday, with Lizzie now planning to take a year out of racing.
She has also extended her contract with Trek-Segafredo
and is now set to stay at the US-based WorldTour team until at least the end of
2024.
“Obviously having a baby
is a big decision, but it wasn’t a difficult one for us. We’ve always wanted to
have a big family and I think the time is right to have another child,” said
former world champion Deignan (33).
“Orla is ready for a
sibling, I feel like I am established and able in my career to make the next
step to have another child and everything behind the scenes fell into place.
All the logical stuff like having a settled team and settled where we live was all
really good. It was an emotional, but logical decision to make our family
bigger.
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“It’s been quite an
emotional experience, actually. Talking with Trek and telling them about my
pregnancy, they gave me their complete support. I first told Ina, my Sports
Director, and her immediate response was ‘That’s f***ing awesome,
congratulations!’ That took me back, really.
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"It meant so much to
me personally to have that support. I’m a professional athlete in a
professional cycling team, but the support feels very personal and I’m
incredibly grateful. I feel like I still have plenty to give from an
athletic standpoint. For me, it was always obvious that if we were able to have
another baby then I would still return to cycling.
“I never expected to continue my career through not just
one, but two pregnancies, but actually there’s been so many examples now of
successful women returning to the sport, and especially older women returning
to the sport. I don’t think the same stereotype of athletes retiring at 30 in
their prime is necessarily true anymore.”
It will be the second time Deignan has taken a season out
as she did not race in 2018, during her first pregnancy. After he daughter was
born she then returned to racing in 2019 in a groundbreaking manner as she shot
back to the top of the sport after her maternity leave; something few female
athletes, especially cyclists, have done.
She took a series of top results during that 2019 season,
including winning a stage and the overall at the OVO Energy Women’s Tour in the
UK. The following season she won GP de Plouay, La Course by Le Tour de France,
a stage at the women’s Giro and victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Last year she won
the Tour de Suisse, a stage of the women’s Giro and the inaugural Paris-Roubaix;
the latter with an epic solo breakaway.
