CYCLING:VUELTA A España stage-winner Philip Deignan has had a quiet season, but he has been named the Cervélo team leader for the Tour of California, which begins on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Letterkenny rider will line up against Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Lance Armstrong (Astana), second and third in the 2009 Tour de France, and will aim to show he warrants a place in this year’s Tour.
Deignan had a slow start to the season due to injury issues over the winter. He showed signs of improving form when he placed 10th and 12th on stages of the Circuit de la Sarthe, but then had a quiet campaign in the Ardennes Classics.
A reassessment with his coach Tommy Evans led to the conclusion he had rushed his training and had over-done it; he backed off, then set about rebuilding form for the coming American race.
“We are going to the Tour of California with the intention of winning a stage,” said his sports director, Jean Paul van Poppel, naming Theo Boss, Dominique Rollin and Heinrich Haussler as the main candidates for that.
“For the overall ranking, Philip Deignan, who finished in the top 10 at the Vuelta a España last year, will be our man.”
The overall team leader Carlos Sastre is competing in the Giro d’Italia. A good performance in California would put Deignan move him one step closer to riding alongside Sastre in his first Tour this July.
On the topic of the Giro, yesterday’s fifth stage saw breakaway riders Jerome Pineau (Quick Step), Julien Fouchard (Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne) and Yukiya Arashiro (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) defy expectations and hold off the main bunch into Novi Ligure.
Pineau won the gallop to the line after the sprinters’ teams miscalculated and came up four seconds too short in the finale. Overnight leader Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) rolled in as part of this group, preserving his 13 second lead over team-mate Ivan Basso.
Dan Martin lost time due to a split in the bunch, crossing the line 55 seconds behind the leaders and went from 84th to 91st overall, and is now 10 minutes 42 seconds behind Nibali. He’s had an unlucky start to the race but should fare better in the mountains.
At home, the riders for this year’s FBD Insurance Rás will have their final preparations before the start next Sunday week.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday: Tommy Givan Memorial, Hillsborough, noon; Youth track races, Orangefield, Belfast Saturday/Sunday: DH NPS round four, Cullahill, Co Laois.
Sunday: Hammond Memorials, Roundwood, 11am; O’Leary/O’Keeffe Memorials, noon; Mayo League race, Bohola Community Centre, 10.30; North Down GP, Donagadee rugby club, 10.30am; IVCA DMS Kentstown, 9.15am.
