CYCLING Round-up: Promising first-year professional Philip Deignan has been forced to withdraw from tomorrow's Tour du Haut Var due to the lingering effects of a crash he suffered in last week's Tour of the Mediterranean.

The Donegal rider hit the deck 20 kilometres from the start of Mont Faron, a steep climb out of Toulon which was the finish for stage three of this year's race. He remounted and finished 47th on the stage, but did not start the following day's team time trial due to the injury.

"The crash was pretty bad," he said yesterday. "I was moving up the bunch when a Phonak rider moved out suddenly and hit my front wheel. We were doing 60 or 70 kilometres an hour at the time, so I fell pretty hard. I just missed hitting a telegraph pole when I went down, so I guess things could have been a lot worse."

Deignan, a promising climber, had been planning on showing his ability on the stage. "I was hoping to do a good ride on Mont Faron. I got straight back on the bike after my crash and joined the bunch just before the start of the climb, finishing 46th, but I think without the fall a top 15 or 20 place would have been possible.

"My knee has been pretty bruised since then. I've done nothing on the bike since but will try to start back this weekend. Unfortunately I'll miss the Tour du Haut Var and, with the interruption, will also miss out on riding Paris-Nice. Taking part in that was a target for my first pro season."

Deignan is likely to return to competition in two Swiss races later this month.

His Ag2R Prevoyanace team-mate Mark Scanlon will compete in the Tour du Haut Var tomorrow and is part of the squad for Paris-Nice. "Mark is going pretty well, he is a lot leaner than the past couple of years so that should work well for him," said Deignan.

Back home, all senior, junior, veteran and female riders interested in riding on Leinster teams this year have been invited to attend a Cycling Leinster pre-season training session tomorrow, starting from the West County hotel in Chapelizod at 9.30 am. The main spin will involve some controlled interval sessions and will total approximately 100 kilometres. A shorter spin may also be arranged. Riders are required to wear helmets and also to bring spare tubes, pump, tools, food, drink and raingear.

Contact Colm Bracken this evening at (01) 6214445.