Lizzie Deignan said she was proud to make history after becoming the first-ever winner of the women’s Paris-Roubaix race.
The London 2012 road race silver medallist made a breakaway with 82.5km to go and incredibly held the lead for the rest of the way to win the 116-km race in atrocious weather conditions on the famous cobbles.
Deignan finished 1m17s ahead of Marianne Vos, who beat her to Olympic gold in London nine years ago, with Vos’s chase falling just short.
"I feel really emotional," Deignan said.
"I’m just so happy, really proud. I can’t believe it happened. Women’s cycling is at this turning point, and you saw it today, this is part of history.
"I am proud to be part of a team that also makes history.
"We are so grateful to everybody behind the scenes, all the viewers watching, because every fan who’s watching this is also making history.
"It is proving that there is an appetite for women’s cycling and that the athletes here can do one of the hardest races in the world, and I am so proud that I can say that I am the first-ever winner."
Deignan made another piece of history by becoming the first ever British rider to win Paris-Roubax, with the men’s race first held in 1896.
But she admitted she was not the rider her Trek-Segafredo team selected to win, and took advantage of the gap she had built.
"[Winning] was really not the plan," she added. "I just needed to be at the front on the first section of cobbles to protect the leaders - today I was third rider.
"I looked behind after the first cobbles and there was no-one behind me, so I thought they have to chase me so, I just kept going."
Deignan is back in action next week in the Tour of Britain, while the men's Paris-Roubaix race takes place on Sunday.
Photo credit: SWpix