Lizzie Deignan returned to racing eight months after the birth of her second child, continuing to raise the bar in her cycling career and paving the way for future athlete mothers in all sports.

The Olympic medalist and former world champion has made it clear that she hopes to compete in the upcoming Tour de France Femme and the World Championships in Glasgow, along with the Olympics in Paris next summer.

In addition, if organizer RCS Sport launches a women's version of Milan-San Remo and Il Lombardia, it would conquer the five monuments of cycling, along with the Tour de Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

"Obviously what motivates me is the same goals like the World Championships and the Olympics, but taking part in the Tour de France is exciting for me and I look forward to the new opportunities that will come my way," said October 2021 Dignan said before Flèche Wallonne, which will be his first race since October 2021.

"I am currently the athlete with the most monuments. So I want to go for new monuments. I don't have one yet and maybe I will, but I don't know yet. Milan - Sanremo and Lombardy. So I want to be able to aim for five monuments in my career.

Deignan won the road world title in 2015, the Tour de Flanders in 2016, and after giving birth to her first child in 2018, she won Liège-Bastigne-Liège and Paris-Roubaix, showing the world what an athlete-mom can do given the opportunity.

Her April entries in Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège came as a surprise to Deignan, who had originally planned to begin her comeback to racing at La Vuelta Femina on May 1. However, due to illness and crashes of his Trek-Segafredo teammates, he was asked by the team if he would be ready in time for the last two Ardennes Classics.

"We were going to start with the Vuelta, with a bit more time to prepare for the Vuelta. I was going to start with the Vuelta. But you know, professional sport is not about what is easy or what is nice. At the end of the day, I'm a teammate and it's about supporting my teammates," Dingan said. [It's] ridiculous to be training at home when you can get what you need in a race.

"Just, obviously, not as comfortable at the start and not as prepared as I wanted to be. But there are only two weeks left until the Vuelta. So it's not like I got called up two months early, it's only two weeks.

"There is a bit of a gap in our preparation in terms of the real strength we wanted to have before these races. There is no pressure to stay in the race or to get a result. I just do what I can do for the team and if I can do that, there is no greater joy." [Meanwhile, Elisa Longo Borghini, Shirin van Anjoui, Amanda Spratt, and Gaia Rialini will be the more active contenders in both races.

On being reunited with Trek Segafredo in Hoy, Degnan said he felt "safe," "secure," and "welcome."

"It's really strange to go back to the hotel where I always stay. Nothing has changed here, but a lot has changed in the rest of my life," Deignan said.

"It's so familiar, it's like I've never really been there before. Everyone has the same smile and happy faces. 0]

Dignan feels she is fully prepared to resume racing, but says it took her a little longer to get her power back this time because the second pregnancy was more difficult.

"Physically I am fine. My training is going well. All my endurance numbers are good. But in terms of top-end race fitness, I don't have it. I haven't been able to train to win races yet. I just hope I'm fit enough to support the team."

She hinted at her curiosity as to how her power and strength will stack up against her rivals, given that the peloton has become more competitive since the last race.

"It would be nice to see some of my rivals, but it would be a brutal introduction for me. It's going to be difficult. So I don't think I'll be running around chatting," Dignan said.

She watched SD Walks dominate the one-day races this spring with 11 wins and hopes to gauge her performance against the field through the remaining races in the Ardennes and her big goals this summer.

"The last time she was away from racing for a year, the strength of the peloton clearly jumped. Her performance in training since her return has been comparable to her own, but her ranking in the peloton has dropped.

Deignan's ability to balance family and a world-class cycling career as an athlete and mother has inspired many other female athletes. When asked who inspires her, Deignan said she looks up to British rower Helen Glover.

Glover's rowing career spans nearly 15 years, winning two gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and three world titles between 2013 and 2015.

"She has three children under the age of three, which is outrageous. Yes, she has been a phenomenal force in rowing and a great inspiration to me," Dignan said.

In a previous interview, Dignan said she looks up to now-retired American track and field athlete Allison Felix as an athlete, mother, and role model.

"I have some thoughts on dealing with the confusion of having multiple children.