Deignan (third in line) in the TTT on Wednesday’s stage of the Tour of Utah
By Graham Healy
Philip Deignan (Unitedhealthcare) is continuing to ride very well in the Tour of Utah, infiltrating the main breakaway of the day on the third stage of the race from Ogden to the University of Utah yesterday, Thursday.
The Donegal man had finished in the select group on Tuesday’s opening mountainous stage and at one point had gone on the attack in a bid for stage glory. His team then road well in the Team Time Trial on Wednesday, meaning Deignan started yesterday’s stage in a good overall position on GC. He trailed the yellow jersey Christian Vandevelde (Garmin-Sharp) by 53 seconds in 14th place.
Yesterday (last night Irish time) he escaped after the first climb of the day and he was joined by Johann Tschopp (BMC), Thomas Rohregger (Radioshack), Tim Duggan (Liquigas) and Michael Matthews (Rabobank).
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Deignan was the highest of these on GC so for much of the stage he was virtual yellow jersey. However, the Garmin-Sharp team didn’t give them much leeway and their lead didn’t gain much more than four minutes at any point.
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Unfortunately, as they approached the final climb of the day, Big Mountain (2,200 metres) their lead started to come down rapidly. An attack by Rohregger saw Deignan start to struggle and he was soon absorbed by the peloton.
A rapid chase led by Liquigas and BMC saw the remainder of the breakaway being reeled in, and this resulted in a bunch sprint from the much diminished lead group.
Despite spending much of the day in the escape, Michael Matthews had enough in the tank to win the bunch sprint.
Deignan lost contact with the peloton and trailed in ten minutes behind in a large group. Despite slipping back on GC, he will take heart from his attacking form.
The other Irish participant, Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) is now out of the race and will hope to be in better form in advance of his next North American race, the USA Pro Cycling Challenge which starts in Colorado next week.
He was one of a number of riders to fall foul of the judges for drafting or holding on to vehicles yesterday and along with a number of others was disqualified.
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