Just 10 days before she animated the Paris Olympics road race, Lizzie Deignan had a "medical emergency" and spent a night in hospital, she revealed.
The Brit finished 12th in the race, having been one of its key instigators in the leading group. Not once, but twice Deignan attacked on the Montmartre finishing circuit, hoping to set up a winning move for her Team GB teammate, Pfeiffer Georgi, who placed fifth.
Speaking to the media beneath the Eiffel Tower, Deignan explained that she had had an "absolutely abysmal preparation" for the race.
"I got Covid during the Giro and raced by accident with it and really put myself in a hole. And then I was in hospital with a medical emergency 10 days ago, I spent the night in hospital. I'm alright, just about," she said.
"It's been one of those build-ups where it's hard to come into without the evidence of the work. It's been an emotional rollercoaster. I'm ready to chill out."
Deignan was one of three British riders in a 10-strong group at the front of the Olympic road race, alongside Georgi and time trial silver medallist Anna Henderson. All three tried daring attacks, none of which stuck for longer than a few minutes.
"From the outside it might have looked a bit odd," Deignan said, "but I thought, 'You know what, we've got three.' Maybe from the outside you try and keep the three for as long as you can, but I knew actually the best thing I could do was establish that breakaway, give Pfeiffer a free ride, and as soon as [Lotte] Kopecky jumped across, that's when I started attacking.
"They were complete suicide moves. I had no intention of riding away to a medal, because I was really struggling today with pain."
The race, in the end, was won by American Kristen Faulkner, who got a leap on a leading quartet with around 3km to go. Dutchwoman Marianne Vos earned second and Belgium's Lotte Kopecky came third in a three-up sprint for the podium, with Hungary’s Kata Blanka Vas missing out by a tyre's width.
"Bike riding isn't straightforward. I think the strongest rider in the bike race won," Deignan said. "Faulkner is a phenomenal athlete, and she pulled it off, so chapeau to her. And of course, chapeau to Marianne, she is the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time] of our sport."
Deignan, who won a silver medal in the road race at the London Olympics in 2012, confirmed that she has signed another year's deal with her trade team, Lidl-Trek, for 2025.
The Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, however, are "absolutely not" in her sights, she laughed. "There'll be no LA. Not on the bike anyway," the 35-year-old said. "I'll be on the sofa."
