Lizzie Deignan’s racing instincts earn Liege-Bastogne-Liege victory

Trek-Segafredo’s Deignan, of Otley, launched a solo attack on the Cote de la Redoute as the race moved into the final 30km of the 135km route, building a lead of around a minute.

Australian Grace Brown would make Deignan work for victory as she launched a determined counter-attack, getting to within nine seconds by the finish line, but Deignan hung on to add to her recent wins in the GP Plouay and La Course.

“It’s really special,” said Deignan.

“We’ve been waiting to win a Classic like this. We were almost there so many times but I just had the perfect team today. This is a Trek-Segafredo win.

“In this team we’re allowed to race on instinct and not to fear failure.

“I knew I needed to be over the Redoute ahead of Anna (Van Der Breggen) and Annemiek (Van Vleuten) so I just raced on instinct.”

Deignan took second to Van Der Breggen in the first running of the women’s edition of this famous race in 2017, but it had been won by a Dutch rider in each of the first three years with Van Der Breggen doubling up in 2018 before Van Vleuten’s victory last year.

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James Mitchinson