As part of our #madetomove campaign, four-time British national champion and Olympic silver medallist Lizzie Deignan discusses the issues she’s faced in sport, while also explaining how beneficial cycling can be to women in particular.
From the Commonwealth Games to completing in her final Olympics in Paris in 2024, Lizzie Deignan has experienced her fair share of competitions. Having been talent-spotted while at school, Lizzie has lived and breathed all things cycling for her entire adult life and picked up victories at the likes of Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
Now, having retired from the sport at the age of 35, the Olympic medallist is encouraging other women to take up the sport, but warns of the issues that still need resolving.
“I think we’re still way off where we need to be when it comes to women in cycling,” says Lizzie. “There are still a lot of women in this sport who experience RED-S. It’s a big problem.”
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Female cyclists are losing their periods
RED-S refers to when an athlete is under-fuelling and, as a result, their menstrual function is impacted. In simple terms, women are losing their periods because they’re over-training and under-eating.
“I don’t think it’s being taken seriously enough,” Lizzie continues. “From my own experience, having been through two pregnancies while being a professional cyclist, I do feel like I’ve had to manage a lot of the hormone implications of that on my own, and I don’t think there’s enough research on the subject.”
Lizzie’s personal experience backs up a recent study by Lidl, which found that there’s a major shortfall in female-focused sports nutrition knowledge.
The study revealed that almost 80% of women have never received specific guidance on how to fuel their bodies for exercise, while over 67% had never been given tailored guidance to support their training.
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How can women benefit from taking up cycling?
“I’ve met so many like-minded women through cycling,” Lizzie explains. “Women who are motivated, disciplined, determined — from different cultures all over the world.”
Lizzie points to this as being one of the biggest misconceptions about cycling — that the sport is isolating.
“It’s actually extremely social,” she says. “You can chat to the people you’re riding with, so it’s different to running, in that sense. There’s usually a café-stop involved during rides, and there’s a real community.”
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How can women get into cycling?
“I think the best thing to do is to approach a local club,” says Lizzie. “If you’re new to the sport, all the cycling terminology can take a while to pick up. Words like ‘cleats’ and ‘stems’ aren’t in people’s normal vocabulary, so it can feel quite alien when you’re a newbie.”
Lizzie also points to British Cycling as being a great starting point, as it often organises initiatives to get more people involved — it’s how she originally got her start.
“I wasn’t from a cycling family, nor was I at all interested in cycling when I was younger. British Cycling decided to do an initiative and hunt for talent, because they realised that they didn’t have enough women in the sport.
“They gave me a trial run, and I must have impressed them, because they gave me £500 of funding, a bike and a coach, and that was beginning of my amazing journey in cycling.”
Feature image: Lidl Trek / Canva
