British stars heading to Lloyds Tour of Britain Women cycle race start line at Dalby Forest

The former world champion will be joined in the race by teammate and last year’s runner-up Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek), rising stars of the peloton Cat Ferguson (Movistar Team), and Imogen Wolff (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), and sisters Elynor and Zoe Bäckstedt (UAE Team ADQ and Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto respectively).

Having won the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women twice (2016 and 2019), and taken the mountains jersey in last year’s race, Deignan will be lining up for her final appearance in Britain’s biggest professional women’s race.

Commenting on her participation, Deignan said; "I’m always happy to race the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women! I have such special memories from this race and over my career I have had a lot of success here. It’s always a different feeling racing in front of home crowds so I hope we see lots of fans out cheering for women’s peloton over all four days.

“This will be my final Tour of Britain so it will be bittersweet but I am going to be surrounded by some incredible women as part of our Lidl-Trek team so I’m confident we can make it a good week and we will be motivated to achieve some nice results together."

Riding alongside her will be Lidl-Trek teammate Henderson, who added; "I am really looking forward to racing the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women again this year. It's always special to race on home soil, and as a British rider, we don't have so many opportunities so I will be looking to make the most of this moment and hopefully, we will see lots of enthusiastic British cycling fans out on the roads to support us.

“Last year, Lizzie and I raced together as part of the national team so it will be cool to line-up alongside her again and as part of Lidl-Trek. I think we are going to be starting with a really strong team so I am really motivated to be part of that and to hopefully have some success together over the four stages."

The latest rider announcement includes two prodigious young British talents in Cat Ferguson and Imogen Wolff, who finished first and second respectively in last summer’s British junior road race championships.

The pair have gone on to join UCI Women’s WorldTour teams – Movistar Team and Team Visma | Lease a Bike – and will make their debut in the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women.

Wolff won a stage and the youth classification in her first race of the season, the Vuelta a Extremadura, before going on to race in the Spring Classics, while Ferguson, 2024’s world junior time trial and road race champion, recently took victory in the Navarra Women's Elite Classic one-day race in Spain.

The Lloyds Tour of Britain Women will also see both Bäckstedt sisters, Elynor and Zoe, racing for the first time, as younger sister Zoe makes her debut, having recently finished 15th in Paris Roubaix.

They join the likes of European champion Lorena Wiebes (Team SDWorx – Protime) and double Olympic gold medallist Kristen Faulkner (EF Education – Oatly) on the provisional start list.