Former Vuelta stage winner Philip Deignan has said while a recent chest infection has played havoc with his early season preparations, he’s satisfied with his form at the Volta ao Algarve and believes his condition will improve soon.
Deignan's debut race with his new UnitedHealthcare team hasn't been without its hiccups. The American squad lost Marc de Maar due to a bee sting on day one as well as Deignan himself still recovering from a chest infection.
"The form has been pretty average," the Letterkenny pro told stickybottle at the start of the stage this morning, Saturday.
"I was sick last week and was off the bike for five days and on antibiotics so I wasn't expecting to be super here but I've been where I kind of expected, just okay but not good enough to go with the top guys yet, but I'm sure it will come."
Deignan lost just over a minute and a half on the stage three climb to the Alto de Malhao and was 30th overall going into this morning’s stage.
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"Originally we were working for Rory Sutherland for the GC," he says.
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"He said he felt good, but with about 20km to go he said he didn't feel super so I had to try and ride on the last climb. I wasn't far off but to lose a minute and half in 3km is still substantial."
The Portuguese race has been a good opener to the season though and Deignan expects to build form from the five day race.
"It's been really hard. We've been really lucky with the weather, which has kind of helped my chest as well. It's been really tough racing but good racing. It's been good to get that speed back into the legs, the changes in rhythm. I've been doing a lot of hard training but not so much explosive race pace stuff so it's good just to blow the cobwebs out."
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