Lizzie Armitstead happy to go under the radar - as long as she keeps hitting the heights

Armitstead’s recent achievements may have gone criminally under the radar in her home country, but she insists it doesn't faze her

Lizzie Armitstead does not always receive the recognition she deserves Credit: Photo: GETTY IMAGES

When Mark Cavendish won the world road race title in Copenhagen 2011, his face was plastered all over the following day's papers. 'Cavendish joins the greats' was the headline on the poster front of Telegraph Sport on Sept 26, 2011. Inside, was a piece arguing that the Manx Missile was now deserving of the accolade Britain's greatest active sportsman.

While it is difficult to argue that Lizzie Armitstead deserves quite that level of recognition in the wake of her win in last weekend's road worlds in Richmond, Virginia, superb though it was (Cavendish had, after all, also won five Tour de France stages in 2011 en route to the green jersey, taking him up to 20 stages overall and cementing his status as the finest sprinter the sport had ever seen), one cannot help but feel that Armitstead’s achievement has gone criminally under the radar in her home country.

Armitstead (right) celebrates her win in Virginia

The 26 year-old from Otley, lest we forget, became only the fourth British woman ever to claim the iconic rainbow jersey and only the sixth Briton in total.

The relative lack of coverage at home can be partly explained by the fact that Armitstead's timing was, in one sense at least, shocking. She was competing for column inches with a home Rugby World Cup, and more specifically, with the hugely anticipated England v Wales clash at Twickenham last Saturday. Even the 5hr time difference worked against her, with the final kilometres of her race coinciding almost exactly with England's collapse at HQ.

But still, one week on and the lack of mainstream coverage has been glaring. Does it bother her?

“I suppose I've been kind of in my bubble," she says, diplomatically. "I've not even been to England yet so I've not seen the papers - or the lack of my face in the papers. To be honest, though, it's never what it's about for me. It’s probably more my grandparents at home, who collect the press clippings, who are bothered by that sort of thing. I try not to get too upset, I suppose, because it's such a positive thing that's happened."

Armitstead leads the bunch sprint last weekend

Time was when Armitstead might have hit out at perceived differences in the level of recognition afforded to male and female riders. After her silver medal in the Olympic road race in 2012, she famously used the platform to hit out at the “overwhelming sexism” in cycling. But one senses that, as with her cycling, Armitstead has matured as a person, keeping her counsel more, knowing when to attack and when to hold fire.

She is certainly reaping the rewards on the road. Armitstead's win last Saturday capped a brilliant 18 months in which she won two UCI Women's World Cup titles and the Commonwealth Games road title. The conveyor belt of success in a sport which was once a marginal seat in this country’s sporting establishment shows no signs of letting up.

Perhaps this could be a reason the British public were a bit blasé about her win?

“I do think maybe British cycling is a victim of its own success,” agrees Armitstead, a world champion already in the team pursuit back in 2009. "I think perhaps people underestimate what it takes sometimes, especially on the road.

Britain's success in cycling has made the public almost feel blasé about it

“The team pursuit, for instance, is a quantifiable event. If you're going fast you're going to win it, you're going to beat the Australians. The road race is far less predictable, far more tactical. And I think if you're a cyclist you understand that, but perhaps the mainstream media doesn’t.”

Whatever the coverage it received, it was a magnificent win. And achieved almost entirely on her own. Despite praising her young team mates afterwards, Armitstead effectively had to negotiate the last few laps without any team support. And she was still the strongest in the bar afterwards, admitting things got a bit messy after a switch from champagne to tequila. “I ended up looking after some of the younger girls in the team. I won't name names!”

The big focus now is next year’s Olympic road race. As the reigning world champion, the pressure on Armitstead to turn silver into gold in Rio is likely to be intense. But she doesn’t see it that way.

“Maybe I'm being naive, maybe I will feel the pressure,” she says.

“But I see it [the world title] as a huge weight off my shoulders.

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The pressure on Armitstead to turn silver into gold in Rio will be huge

“Perhaps if the course was absolutely tailored to me then, yes. But I have been out there and I know that I am not going to be the favourite. I am going to be the underdog that hangs on to the coattails of the climbers. You've got to see it to believe it. It's just brutal.”

Armitstead plans to tailor her training over the winter, and her race schedule next season, for that very specific challenge. A climbers’ course requires climbers’ legs, so she will be hitting the hills at her home in Monaco. But beyond Rio, she is unsure. One report in a cycling magazine this week suggested she might be considering retirement post-Olympics, to raise a family with Team Sky’s Philip Deignan, to whom she is engaged to be married. She only semi-denies it.

“I haven't thought about retirement but I have been asked so much about it, I've lost track of my responses,” she explains. “I am focused on Rio but after that, honestly, no idea! We’re planning a to get married in Yorkshire next September. It would be nice to get an Olympic title before I change my name, though.”

What Armitstead will admit is that she does not feel the need to go on and on simply for the sake of it. “I don't think I'm going to be the next Chris Hoy,” she reflects. “For me, if you have been world champion it's almost the same as saying you’ve been multiple world champion. The key thing for me is that I don't need to say I'm the Olympic silver medallist any more. I’m the world champion. They can’t take that away from me.”