Racing as a part of a powerful British nationwide crew that introduced collectively riders from 4 completely different Women’s WorldTeams, Lizzie Deignan completed fourth on stage 1 of the Tour of Britain Women – however Deignan nonetheless went onto the rostrum in Llandudno as she had taken essentially the most mountain factors and can put on the blue QOM jersey on stage 2 round Wrexham.
“It was completely made up within the second. I used to be in a very good place over each climbs and thought ‘if I’m there, I’d as properly’,” mentioned Deignan.
The stage noticed her and her teammate for the week, Anna Henderson, draw back as a part of a nine-strong entrance group on the second labeled climb. Until then, no breakaway had lasted for very lengthy on a windswept day by North Wales.
“It was a disgrace because it was truly headwind the entire race. It sort of made the race a bit of bit extra damaging than the course lent itself to be, however we nonetheless received away on that second climb. It was actually cool truly, actually lovely, gorgeous,” Deignan mentioned concerning the stage.
Back in 2019, the 35-year-old already made the many of the Welsh roads, profitable stage 5 of the Women’s Tour to Builth Wells and taking the GC lead earlier than securing the general victory the subsequent day at Pembrey Country Park. Deignan additionally loved the race ambiance, passing by colleges and nurseries the place kids had been cheering on the peloton.
“It’s all about inspiring the subsequent era, and the easiest way to try this is to get in entrance of individuals and undergo cities and villages the place they could not essentially know that ladies’s biking even exists, so I hope we have impressed a number of folks at this time,” she completed.