Lizzie Deignan out of Strade Bianche with a cold

SIENA ITALY AUGUST 01 Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy and Team TrekSegafredo Women Elizabeth ArmisteadDeignan of The United Kingdom and Team TrekSegafredo Women Franziska Koch of Germany and Team Sunweb Women Juliette Labous of France and Team Sunweb Women Liane Lippert of Germany and Team Sunweb Women Dust during the Eroica 6th Strade Bianche 2020 Women Elite a 136km race from Siena to Siena Piazza del Campo StradeBianche on August 01 2020 in Siena Italy Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
Lizzi Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) at the 2020 Strade Bianche last August (Image credit: Getty Images)

Lizzie Deignan will miss the opening round of the Women's WorldTour at Strade Bianche in Siena, Italy, on Saturday because she is suffering from a cold. According to her team, Trek-Segafredo, Deignan has been replaced by cyclo-cross world champion Lucinda Brand.

"Lizzie has a cold so not in tip top shape to race," the team's press officer told Cyclingnews on the eve of Strade Bianche.

Deignan won the overall title of the Women's WorldTour last season and was a key contender for this year's opening round at Strade Bianche, a race she won in 2016. 

She started Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last weekend but didn't make the decisive move and finished last place at more than seven minutes behind winner Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx).

Deignan will be replaced by her teammate Brand, who recently completed a stellar cyclo-cross season winning the world title, World-Cup, Superprestige and X²O Badkamers Trophy series.

Trek-Segafredo line up with another former winner in Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini, who is also a key contender for the win again this year.

It's an Italian race and Longo Borghini will be targeting her home event and looking to make a winning move on home soil. She won the 2017 edition, but she was also on the podium in 2015 and 2018.

The team will also include Ellen van Dijk, Chloe Hosking, Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Tayler Wiles at Strade Bianche.

Deignan will target the cobbled classics including Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix before turning her attention to the Olympic Games and the World Championships later in the season.

Join Cyclingnews for live coverage of 2021 Strade Bianche women's race starting at 9:10 am CET and check in after the race for our full report, results, gallery, news and features. For more information on how to watch live coverage of the race, visit - How to watch Strade Bianche 2021 – live TV and streaming.

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Kirsten Frattini
Women's Editor

Kirsten Frattini is an honours graduate of Kinesiology and Health Science from York University in Toronto, Canada. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's WorldTour. She has worked in both print and digital publishing, and started with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. Moving into a Production Editor's role in 2014, she produces and publishes international race coverage for all men's and women's races including Spring Classics, Grand Tours, World Championships and Olympic Games, and writes and edits news and features. As the Women's Editor at Cyclingnews, Kirsten also coordinates and oversees the global coverage of races, news, features and podcasts about women's professional cycling.