100 Team GB contenders for London 2012: Lizzie Armitstead

Cycling (road race)

Born: 18/12/88

Career highlights

Armitstead enjoyed an astounding track World Cup Series debut, winning three golds (points race, scratch & team pursuit) at the Manchester event in 2008.

On her track World Championships debut in 2009, she won gold in the team pursuit, silver in the scratch race (despite a crash) and bronze in the points race.

She also won team pursuit and omnium silver medals at the 2010 World Championships and secured her first British road race title in 2011.

Other career

Armitstead played a key role in helping Nicole Cooke win gold at the 2008 Road World Championships, but she accused her team-mate of disobeying team orders and riding for herself at the same event three years later.

In 2010, Armitstead enjoyed stage wins at two of the toughest women's road races, the Tour de l'Aude and the Tour de l'Ardeche, winning three at the latter.

She has abandoned plans to ride in the omnium at the Olympics in order to concentrate on the 140km road race.

Personal

She comes from Otley in Yorkshire. She got into cycling as a 15-year-old when a talent-identification programme visited her school.