Philip Deignan began the season well for Team Sky at the Tour Down Under, but has had a disrupted season since then.
By Gerard Cromwell
Philip Deignan has been forced out of the Sky team for today’s Tour of the Basque Country after he failed to recover from a bout of illness last weekend.
After a collarbone break sustained in February, Deignan returned to the peloton at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali stage race in Italy the week before last.
Although his injury gave him no trouble and he was able to help teammate Pete Kennaugh take victory on stage three of the four-day, five-stage race, Deignan was unable to start the penultimate stage due a bout of gastroenteritis the night before.
“I wasn’t able to get out of bed, never mind ride a bike,” he said at the time.
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It was hoped however that with a couple of days off the Letterkenny rider would be back training hard and ready to ride the Basque tour today.
“I went home but still felt pretty bad the next day,” Deignan said.
“I thought I would be grand in a couple of days but it took a lot more out of me than I thought. I was down to do the Basque Country but I’ve been really weak out training the last few days and the team decided it was best not to start such a hard race without being recovered properly.”
The Tour of the Basque Country is renowned for its tough, mountainous route and with no less than eight climbs on today’s opening stage, six of which are second category ascents, the six-day race is not one you can ease yourself into.
“It’s a hard race even if you’re 100 percent fit,” says Deignan.
“It’s unfortunate to miss it but myself and the team feel that because I haven’t recovered properly from the stomach problems, a block of training would be a better option.”
Deignan, who won a stage in the Vuelta a Espana in 2009, is still hopeful of earning a place in the Sky line-up when the Giro d’Italia comes to Belfast next month.
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