Welcome to the Cyclingnews Podcast Women`s Edition, brought to you by Sportful, Pinarello and Floyds of Leadville. In this episode Cyclingnews` women´s editor Kirsten Frattini sits down with former world champion and new mom Lizzie Deignan to discuss motherhood, her postpartum return to pro cycling, dreams of winning a second world title at Yorkshire World Championships, and her biggest hopes for the future of women`s cycling. Deignan took time away from the sport to give birth to her first child and only recently returned to the peloton with her new team Trek-Segafredo. She chose to make her comeback at the Ardennes Classics, and then raced Tour de Yorkshire, Tour of California and the OVO Energy Women`s Tour, where she won the overall title.ADVERTISEMENT At a time when major sport sponsors are pushing promotional content geared toward equality, female athletes such as American Olympians Kara Goucher, Allyson Felix and Alysia Montaño, have exposed American company Nike for its performance-based reductions clause in athlete contracts, and how that affects athletes who want to have a baby. Montaño wrote a detailed opinion piece in The New York Times titled `Nike told me to dream crazy, until I wanted a baby`, where she described the company`s policy of reducing and cutting salaries after some of its female athletes decided to become pregnant. Female cyclists can relate to this policy because it is common for teams to add pregnancy clauses into rider contracts, and contracts have been cancelled or considered nullified if an athlete becomes pregnant.
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