Philippa York: Lizzie Deignan defines her own identity

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Lizzie Deignan of Team Trek-Segafredo in action near Harrogate.(Image credit: SWpix.com)

Catching up with Lizzie Deignan the evening before the first stage of the Women’s Tour de Yorkshire and I was struck by just how relaxed and level headed she is. She’s three races into her return from giving birth last September, so I was thinking that maybe there would have been some lingering apprehension at being back in the thick of things, but not at all. Any doubts she had over nerves or if her ability to deal with the stresses of racing in a peloton were, she says, gone after the first 100 metres of Amstel Gold Race.

Philippa York is a long-standing Cyclingnews contributor, providing expert racing analysis. As one of the early British racers to take the plunge and relocate to France with the famed ACBB club in the 1980's, she was the inspiration for a generation of racing cyclists – and cycling fans – from the UK.

The Glaswegian gained a contract with Peugeot in 1980, making her Tour de France debut in 1983 and taking a solo win in Bagnères-de-Luchon in the Pyrenees, the mountain range which would prove a happy hunting ground throughout her Tour career.

The following year's race would prove to be one of her finest seasons, becoming the first rider from the UK to win the polka dot jersey at the Tour, whilst also becoming Britain's highest-ever placed GC finisher with 4th spot.

She finished runner-up at the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1986, to Pedro Delgado and Álvaro Pino respectively, and at the Giro d'Italia in 1987. Stage race victories include the Volta a Catalunya (1985), Tour of Britain (1989) and Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (1990). York retired from professional cycling as reigning British champion following the collapse of Le Groupement in 1995.