<|endoftext|> at the finish line, becoming the fourth British woman to win the world road race title after Beryl Burton, Mandy Jones and Nicole Cooke.
2016
Deignan's stated aim for the 2016 season was the road race at the 2016 Olympic Games, and she started the season as she had finished off the previous one, securing a number of one day race wins, as well as a General classification victory, breaking any curse of the rainbow jersey. Deignan took four victories in the inaugural UCI Women's World Tour; Strade Bianche, Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Tour of Flanders and the overall title at The Women's Tour. Deignan also took victories in the Boels Rental Hills Classic and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. At the Games, she finished just outside the medals in fifth place.
Missed drugs tests
In 2016, Deignan avoided a ban from cycling that would have prevented her from competing in the Olympic Games. The charges against her were that she missed three drugs tests within a 12-month period (20 August 2015, 5 October 2015 and 9 June 2016), an offence that could have led to a four-year ban. However, at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Deignan argued that the first missed test was not a fault of her own but rather that of the testing authorities. She accepted the other two instances. The CAS agreed with her on the first count, and it was declared not to have been a missed test, clearing her to compete. The decision has drawn criticism from various quarters.
In a 5 August 2016 interview, she said she believes that people will doubt her status as a clean sportsperson forever. World squash champion James Willstrop wrote in defence of Deignan, arguing that the complexity of testing procedures can easily lead to missed tests and noting that she had 16 clean tests in 2016.
2017
Deignan endured a difficult start to her 2017 season: after finishing third at Strade Bianche, she fell ill, which hampered her training. However, her form picked up for the Ardennes classics, finishing second to team-mate van der Breggen in the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne Féminine and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. She subsequently took her first win of the season on home ground at the Tour de Yorkshire in April, crossing the line solo almost a minute ahead of her nearest rivals. She took another solo win at the British National Championships on the Isle of Man in June, attacking from a small group with two laps of the finishing circuit remaining alongside Katie Archibald and Hannah Barnes: the trio caught and passed race leader Elinor Barker with to go, with Deignan breaking away immediately afterwards to take her fourth senior national road race title.
The following month she finished second at La Course by Le Tour de France, finishing behind winner Annemiek van Vleuten on the Col d'Izoard: she stated that she was "surprised" by her performance, having never enjoyed success on a mountaintop finish before. In August she took her first World Tour win of the season at the GP de Plouay – Bretagne, breaking away from rivals alongside Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on the final climb, before outsprinting Ferrand-Prévot to cross the finish line first. She became the third woman to win the race twice, alongside Vos and Pooley. However, the remainder of her season was disrupted shortly afterwards after being struck with appendicitis whilst competing in the Boels Rental Ladies Tour.
Personal life
She married fellow professional road racing cyclist Philip Deignan in Otley on 17 September 2016. On 14 March 2018, it was announced that the couple were expecting their first child; the birth of their daughter Orla was announced on 24 September 2018.
She splits her time between Otley and Monaco. Deignan has been a pescitarian for ethical reasons since the age of ten.
Major results
Road
2006
1st National Criterium Championships
1st WCRA Criterium Championships
2007
1st National Criterium Championships
2009
1st Road race, National Under–23 Road Championships
1st Young rider classification Giro d'Italia Femminile
2nd Road race, National Road Championships
3rd Overall Tour de l'Ardèche
1st Points classification
1st Stage 6
2010
1st Road race, National Under–23 Road Championships
Tour de l'Ardèche
1st Points classification
1st Stages 3, 4 & 5
1st Stage 1 Tour de l'Aude
1st Stage 6 La Route de France
2nd Road race, Commonwealth Games
2nd Road race,