Q&a lizzie deignan

Cyclist: This is your first season back since the birth of your second child. How are feeling?

Lizzie Deignan: The past seven months have had their own challenges but life is good and both our children are happy and healthy. The balance with cycling is actually better than I imagined. Starting racing again has been a bit of a shock to the system and it has been a tough road back to fitness, but the Vuelta went well and I’m starting to feel a bit of form and feel stronger, which is exciting.

Cyc: Is it weird always being asked questions about having a family?

LD: I understand the reasons behind the questions about balancing motherhood and being a rider, because physically I’m still in that postpartum period so there are interesting questions about how I’ve managed that and how that works. But it’s also interesting that a pro cyclist who is a father isn’t asked about it as much, whereas I constantly am.

Parenthood is a balancing act for mothers and fathers so it should be an open conversation. It’s brilliant that I have maternity leave but there is no protection for a man. He has to decide whether to stay home rather than go to a bike race, or to perhaps miss the birth of his child. To me, it’s crazy and unbelievable that no man has ever said, ‘Hang on a minute, where’s my paternity leave?’ As long as we’re only talking about maternity leave, we’re only discussing childcare as a priority of women rather than for men too. I think above all, it’s important we see athletes as human beings and not just robots who are there to perform constantly.

Cyc: You’re from Otley in Yorkshire, near to where Beryl Burton was from. Has she been an inspiration?

LD: My grandma used to work in the same school with Beryl Burton, and she would recall that Beryl used to cycle to work pregnant and how everyone thought it was so strange. But I also remember that when I announced my pregnancy to my family, my grandma was one of the first to ask me when I would go back to cycling. It was never a question of whether I would retire.

I’ve been very lucky to be surrounded by a family who think it’s totally normal for me to go back to work. Times have changed a little bit between my era and Beryl’s – she was a much harder woman than I am.

Cyc: How do you feel about riding the Tour de France this year given that you missed last year’s through pregnancy?

LD: I’m rea