CyclingNewsHound

Lizzie Deignan raring for Tour of Britain after fearless triumph on the cobbles

03-Oct-2021 18:21:28 | The Guardian

• Six-stage race sets off from Bicester on Monday
• Van Dijk and Van Vleuten ruled out after bruising Paris-Roubaix

Lizzie Deignan, the winner on Saturday of the first women’s Paris-Roubaix, will be the main attraction in the 2021 AJ Bell Women’s Tour of Britain, which begins in Bicester on Monday. The six-stage race will feature many of those who battled through the historic inaugural edition of the women’s “Hell of the North”, won by a bloodied and tearful Deignan in Roubaix.

The dramatic growth in popularity of women’s cycling, demonstrated by the advent of a women’s Paris-Roubaix and the long-awaited return in 2022 of the women’s Tour de France, will be exemplified by this week’s Women’s Tour, which returns after a 28-month absence enforced by the coronavirus pandemic.