Seeing is believing: How Deignan made women's cycling cool

Lizzie Deignan will retire at the end of the season To have the Lloyd's Tour of Britain Women back on the road after some troubled times is a blessing for women's sport. And two 19-year-old British riders competing in the event and making a significant impact on road cycling globally are explaining who inspired them to take up the sport. At a luxury hotel on the outskirts of Darlington, Imogen Wolff looks across at two-time Tour of Britain winner Lizzie Deignan, a little uncomfortably, to tell her that the speech she delivered following her momentous 2021 Paris-Roubaix win is the reason she is at a bike race at all. Alongside her is housemate Cat Ferguson – who leads the Tour of Britain after victory on the third stage and is the current junior road race world champion and rider for the World Tour Movistar team. "You're gonna think I'm just saying it because she's sat next to me but it was genuinely Lizzie's speech after Roubaix," says Wolff, who competes for the Visma Lease a Bike team. "There was like a tagline, 'the women have a space now and we're here to stay,' and it stuck with me. "I was riding a bike but it didn't seem very cool, just loads of old blokes doing it. Then after Roubaix I thought 'this is the coolest thing ever.' I remember everything about the race… [you] sliding out on that corner; blood on the bar tape. It's still a running joke with my team-mates when we're reconning Roubaix, with me telling them 'this is the moment I fell in love with cycling'." Ferguson's first cycling memory recalls perhaps the other most significant moment in 36-year-old Deignan's career. "It was the first [Olympic] medal, at the time I was six," says Ferguson. "That was my first memory of a big sporting event and I've always loved cycling and the Olympics since. I was watching it on telly on holiday." "Well, this is great for my ego!" retorts thesoon-to-retire Deignan. "I didn't realise I made cycling cool. "There's so many moments in my career girls wouldn't have been able to watch," she adds. "It's difficult to inspire people if they can't even get to see you. The [silver medal at the] Olympics was one of my first performances people could see [live] [as was] Roubaix. "Most people talk to me now about winning Roubaix - it's famous for being tough and relentless. I was sliding all over place, but proved I was able to handle the bike, which blew out any underestimation of us." Ferguson (left) and Wolff have both won races in their first year as pros Just as when she delivered that podium speech in Roubaix, of which she says "there was pressure on that interview", Deignan chooses her words carefully but effectively here. The "underestimation" she refers to is any suggestion by others that women's sport somehow lacks the same punch or power as men's. And posts on social media have also had an impact all three agree - and that the impact has been largely positive. "Social media's had a huge influence on women's sport," says Deignan, who has won many of the sport's biggest races, including the one-day Tour de France and Liege Bastogne Liege classic. "If there's any inequality it's called out very quickly, and we are able to present ourselves to sponsors off our own backs; people can become their own brand in sport. "It has its down side – [Cat and Imogen] are under more pressure than ever. People know everything you're doing and know how you're performing. But it is worth it as long as you learn how to manage expectation and pressure." Ferguson adds that "it doesn't feel like pressure yet". "It's all so new and exciting," she says. "Maybe we'll feel it more as we get older." But the pressure comes from all areas, including sometimes the top as she recalls an issue with world cycling's governing body. "In my post-race interview in the London 2012 Olympics, I was asked to shake the hand of the UCI president [at the time Pat McQuaid] and I was a little bit annoyed. He was doing nothing for the female side of the sport and was getting away with it. "I took that opportunity to speak up in the press conference. [As] the first medallist for GB, suddenly you become the headlines – it was quite daunting. "I'm still happy I did it. It's the way I'd been brought up. It didn't seem like a big deal to me to shout about the inequality I was facing. "But I realise now it's not as easy for everyone to do that, confrontation isn't comfortable for everybody." "The work Lizzie has done in the sport enabled me and Imogen to have careers," concurs Ferguson. "Ultimately to get paid when we are 18, [when] I don't think it was possible for Lizzie to do that when she was 18. "There's also so much more legislation in cycling, such as maternity pay and it's down to Lizzie." There's little doubt Deignan lived and breathed the bike, coaching herself and using and an "evidence-based" approach to ensure she never left a stone unturned. But one of the most important factors of preparation appears to have little to do with being an athlete. "I hear [Lizzie] speak a lot about being a person off the bike, like not being a cyclist," says Wolff. "I don't think a lot of people speak about it - people think to be really pro you have to sleep, eat, train… repeat, so it's nice to know that different personalities have a different way of working that can be successful, and you don't have to be this one mould." "I tried knitting, once," she adds, rolling her eyes. "I was so bored." "I've got loads of interests," adds Wolff. "Guitar, baking sourdough, learning Dutch [to help communicate with her team-mates]. "But I'm not very good at [sticking with] hobbies when I'm not very good at them, so I don't find the first bit very… interesting." "I'm still trying to find a hobby," adds Ferguson, who reminds the room that like Wolff she has only just finished school, and that newly acquired free time is yet to be filled. "[Lizzie's] not just a rider, she's a really lovely, interesting, intelligent person," adds Ferguson. "You can tell through watching her race she's made women's cycling more than a sport and made people want to race." Everybody needs an inspiration to achieve. Deignan may have been first on the scene for Wolff and Ferguson but many in the sport act as inspiration before her, including Beryl Burton and Nicole Cooke. "A Little bit like [Wolff] I always thought cycling was, not boring… but an old bloke's sport," says Deignan. "[Then] seeing Victoria Pendleton, she was entertainment and she was this glamorous, impressive powerful woman, and as a teenage girl I thought 'oh wow this could be a good sport and I could fit in. "You can't be what you can't see, and she was somebody I identified with. "I just hope going forwards you demand quality at every turn," concludes Deignan to Wolff and Ferguson. "You have it now, but keep pushing for it. You're both incredibly talented and hard-working. "You deserve it."