Deignan builds form ahead of Olympic gamble

British star looking forward to Tokyo following surprise fourth-place finish at the Giro Donne

- Owen Rogers

Lizzie Deignan heads to the Tokyo Olympics confident in her form after a strong showing at last week’s Giro Donne. The Trek-Segafredo rider finished fourth overall, her best finish in eight starts, and also took second on the final stage.

“It’s a bit unexpected really,” Deignan told CW. “Obviously we came here to work for Elisa in the general classification and unfortunately she had a bad day so I had to take over and somehow I’ve managed to hold on to fourth place.”

Deignan particularly impressed in the mountains, finishing 11th on stage two to the Prato Nevoso ski resort after initially working for team-mate Elisa Longo Borghini. When the Italian faded unexpectedly Deignan took over as the team’s GC hope, finishing top 10 in both the mountain time trial and on Saturday’s mountaintop finish on the Slovenian border.

“I’m where I want to be,” Deignan said of her form. “Spring didn’t go to plan because of sickness so that was disappointing, but in terms of my build-up to the Olympics I feel really happy. I’ve come to the Giro in good shape but I think I’ll be going out of the Giro in better shape, which takes a bit of experience and understanding of your body to get that right.”