Olympic cyclist Lizzie Armitstead was late to church because of a bike
CYCLING champion Lizzie Armitstead was late for her own wedding after her bridal entourage was held up – by a man on a bicycle.
A vintage bus carrying the reigning world and Commonwealth road race champion, along with her bridesmaids and flower girls, got stuck behind the lone cyclist as it took them to church yesterday morning.
The London 2012 Olympic silver medallist in the women’s road race arrived 10 minutes late for the ceremony to marry fellow cyclist Philip Deignan, 33, in her home town of Otley, West Yorkshire.
The 27-year-old brunette was embroiled in controversy before the Rio Olympics after missing three drugs tests.
After one of the missed tests was overturned she competed in Brazil but only managed to take fifth place in the women’s road race.
She put her woes behind her yesterday as she wore a lace ivory wedding gown at The Bridge United Reformed Church to marry the Irish cyclist, who races for Team Sky with Tour de France winner Chris Froome.
The newlyweds were driven to their reception in a 1932 Rolls-Royce, while guests were transported in a fleet of vintage buses.
In an exclusive interview with OK! Magazine before the big day, Armitstead joked: “Anybody who brings anything cycling related will be turned away.
There’ll be a strictly no cycling theme at the wedding!
“There’ll be a strictly no cycling theme at the wedding!”
The couple had waited a year before tying the knot after Philip popped the question last September.
Armitstead has been one of the most dominant riders on the international women’s road racing scene since turning her back on track racing after the 2009 world championships.
In Rio, meanwhile, fellow cyclist Dame Sarah Storey added to her medal haul as the most successful Paralympian of the modern era by taking her 14th gold in women’s C4-5 road race yesterday.
Lizzie Armitstead wins 2014 UCI Women s Road World Cup [AMBIENT]
The 38-year-old, from Disley, Cheshire, who was born without a left hand, has now won 25 medals at seven Games and immediately set her sights on taking swimmer Mike Kenny’s British record of 16 individual golds at four Paralympics from 1976 to 1988, by competing in Tokyo in four years’ time.
Storey’s teammate Crystal Lane, 31, from Chelmsford, Essex, took bronze in the road race in Rio, with a clean sweep of medals in the women’s wheelchair archery and an athletics bronze helping give Britain an unassailable lead over Ukraine for second place in the medal table.