Lizzie Deignan: Women's cycling is making massive leaps, but it is sustainable

CLACTON, UK (VN) — Women’s cycling is progressing quickly, but its growth is sustainable, says the Paris-Roubaix Femmes champion Lizzie Deignan.

The 32-year-old was responding to a comment from Women’s Tour director Mick Bennett, who told VeloNews that he believed the UCI was developing women’s cycling too fast.

Deignan — who joined Eddy Merckx and Rik Van Looy as the only riders to win Gent-Wevelgem, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour of Flanders, and the world championships during their careers — said it was sustainable development and big steps had to be made to level up women’s cycling.

Also read: Women’s Tour wants live TV in 2022, but it’s not going to compromise elsewhere

“We’ve seen sustainable change and, yes, we’re making massive leaps but that has to happen. There will be a few tired athletes next year [with more races], but we can handle it, we’re up for it,” Deignan told VeloNews ahead of the penultimate stage of the Women’s Tour.

Also read: Lizzie Deignan on Paris-Roubaix Femmes triumph: ‘We are part of history now, there’s no going back’

“It’s been a privilege. The crowds that have come out have been amazing, it’s been nice. It’s special that people know about it. Five years ago, I could have won a big race and they would have not known. The fact that people were able to watch and celebrate with me now has been nice,” she said.

Pushing Paris-Roubaix Femmes forward

The first-ever Paris-Roubaix Femmes was a long time in the making with fans having to wait a year for it to happen after it was postponed twice due to COVID-19. In the end, the day went as well as — if not better — than could be imagined, with dramatic action from start to finish.

However, there were aspects that weren’t received well, such as the fact that Deignan earned €1,535 for her win while Sonny Colbrelli, the men’s champion, took home a tidy €30,000. Overall, Deignan was understandably delighted with how the day went for her, but she believes that race organizer ASO needs to continue pushing the development of the event forward.

Also read: Gallery: Lizzie Deignan’s winning Trek Domane at Paris-Roubaix Femmes

“It would be difficult for me to be critical. I had a great time and it was really special,” Deignan laughed. “There was some criticism that we missed a couple of sectors, but I’ve said before that I think it was the right first edition.”

“I hope that it grows, and obviously, the prize money disparity is not good enough. There has been a lot of pressure from the public, which is really positive. I think it’s been a good start.”

There is little like Paris-Roubaix on the cycling calendar, whether that be for the men or the women. And it gave some riders that aren’t regularly in the spotlight a chance to shine.

“This is an interesting part. We’re getting more and more races on the women’s calendar and team sizes are really small,” Deignan told VeloNews. “On the men’s side, you have riders that are really able to focus on Paris-Roubaix and that will happen in women’s cycling. I think that next year there will be riders that finish their classics campaign at Paris-Roubaix rather than go onto the classics. I think it’ll only get harder to win it, so thankfully I won the first one.”

“It was really cool to see some different people in the top 10, there were some standout rides from people, like Audrey in our team. She’s a phenomenal rider and Paris-Roubaix really showcased what a teammate she is. She was in the top 10, which was really cool to see.”

With quieter roads for the women’s race last Saturday, Deignan is relishing the chance to race on the same day as the men and bring women’s cycling to spectators that might not ordinarily see it.

“It will be great, it means that we will reach more fans. There were more fans at the men’s race and it will be really great that they get to see us, too,” Deignan said.