After an absence of two years and with a rainbow jersey, as well as countless other race wins, to her name in the intervening period, Lizzie Deignan will make her Revolution return this winter.
Riding for her trade team Boels-Dolmans, Deignan will race all three rounds of the Revolution Series Elite Women’s Championship and cannot wait to get back to the boards.
https://youtu.be/x2aWzlSEqOY
A world champion on the track eight years ago in the team pursuit, Deignan is no stranger to the Revolution Series having come through the Future Stars programme to ride as a senior.
And she praised the event in what it has done for the development of young cyclists in Britain.
“I think Revolution is really important to the progress of young track athletes,” said the 28-year-old.
“Particularly for me, it’s where I started and it’s the place where you’re thrown into the deep end, there’s pressure, there’s expectation, there’s a massive crowd and if you want to be an elite track cyclist then it’s a great place to start your career.”
After a stellar season in 2016, backing up her world road race win with a sparkling spring in which she won almost every race she entered, Deignan has - to the uninitiated - had a less fruitful 2017.
But a start to the season disrupted by illness, three second places in a standout Ardennes Classics week in April and a National Championships win in June mean she goes into September’s road World Championships with another realistic shot at the rainbow bands.
And however her assault on the world title goes in Bergen, Norway, Deignan has already got her winter mapped out.
“For me, this year is a really good time to come back to the track,” she added. “It means that it breaks up my winter training and I felt last year that I definitely missed some motivation during the winter months.
“Revolution will give me that.”
A return to Revolution action also gives Deignan the chance to experience a new track, with the former World Championship omnium silver medallist never having ridden the Lee Valley VeloPark boards before.
“I’ve been to watch Revolutions there and I’ve been to watch the Olympics there, so my memories there are special - but I’ve never ridden there,” she added.
“The memories are of watching Joanna Rowsell Shand becoming Olympic champion and of being part of that amazing London 2012 crowd.”
The British Champion will face tough opposition on the boards with details of several of the other women’s team already announced including defending champions, Storey Racing and Team WNT, featuring Olympic Champion Katie Archibald.
See the world’s best road teams take on the champions of the track in the Revolution Track Cycling Series. Tickets on sale at www.cyclingrevolution.com
Revolution 2017/18 season
Champions League Round 1
Lee Valley VeloPark, London
Saturday 25th November 2017
Champions League Round 2
Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Glasgow
Saturday 2nd December 2017
Champions League Round 3
National Cycling Centre, Manchester
Saturday 6th January 2018
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