Deignan's Giro Diary: "I was really nervous riding in front of people I've known all my life"

Our man Philip Deignan, third from left, with his Team Sky on the streets of Belfast last night (Photo: Toby Watson)

Friday May 9, Stage 1: Team Time Trial, Belfast (21.7km)

By Philip Deignan

Today started off with a pretty relaxed breakfast in the hotel before heading out on the time trial bikes with my Team Sky teammates to check out the team time trial route on closed roads.

We soon found out that it was a very technical course where you needed plenty of horsepower but also needed to get everything right on all of the corners if you wanted to be fast and safe.

Instead of riding continuous laps of the course until the road reopened, we did one full lap before concentrating on the more technical sections of the stage.

As there were a lot of corners in the first 3km, we did that section three times in a row, trying to get the right line into each bend before riding out to Stormont and checking out the hill and then the descent to get a feel for it.

Because it was so blustery this morning, there was a bit of confusion at the start as to which side of the group was the best side to drift back down in order to get maximum shelter after doing your turn at the front.

As the wind was gusting all over the place along the waterfront, some guys were swapping on the right, some guys on the left and it was quite difficult to get organised initially but after a quick stop and a bit of discussion we got it pretty much dialed in perfectly.

Although I began the day with a tri spoke front wheel on, I soon realised that a traditional front wheel would make the bike a lot easier to control in the gusts coming off the unsheltered coastline.

I’d also noticed that when I pulled the brakes on the tri spoke wheel, they took a second or so to catch and then almost nailed you to the road but the change to a normal rim sorted that out.

After lunch I spent what was a long afternoon just chilling out in my room waiting to head to the start area and get warmed up.

As with everything on Team Sky, nothing is make-it-up-as-you-go-along and we have a pretty strict protocol for our warm-up.

The mechanics have our bikes mounted on ergo trainers in front of the team bus - facing away from spectators to minimise distraction, while there are two small plasma screens on the floor in front of us displaying the time so that we know when to get off the bikes and go to the start.

You see some teams sitting on the ergo trainer for an hour getting warmed up but we don’t really do that at Team Sky.

Here, everybody follows the same routine. We have a very specific 20 minute warm up on the trainers, after which we all get off, get our race radios put in, get ready and get to the start as quickly as possible.

Sky have been doing this for the last three years or so and now that other teams have seen that it works they’re starting to introduce the same systems and it’s pretty much standard now in the WorldTour.

As we lined up on the start ramp this evening I will admit to being a bit more nervous than I’ve been in any other race.

I tried to keep focused, take deep breaths and not get distracted by the whole occasion. But riding a race as big as the Giro in my home country, in front of people I’ve known my whole life, soon saw the butterflies begin to flutter their wings in my stomach.

The fact that it had started to rain during our warm-up just added to the nerves.

I probably should be honest at this point and say that I don’t really like team time trials in the first place.

With the whole team racing against the clock, everybody is on the limit, trying to ride as fast as possible and as close to each other as possible.

In an effort to get down out of the wind, everyone is in a tucked aerodynamic position, which usually means your hands are on the tri-bars and nowhere near the brakes if there’s a problem.

This all makes for a very stressful event and there’s not much room for error. But like climbing, sprinting or riding in an echelon, it’s part of the job and you have to get on with it.

With the fifth rider across the line stopping the clock and strength in numbers, we tried to accelerate out of the corners a bit slower than if it had been dry and tried to ride the climb to Stormont pretty steadily to keep everyone together.

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You have to ride the hill at such a tempo that you stay just on the limit but don’t go over it and into the red. The problem is that you’re already on the limit as you come into the climb.

I think I rode the hill in a 55x21 but some of the guys dropped down into the little ring. For some reason my radio wasn’t working though and I didn’t know that we had dropped two of my teammates just over the top of the hill.

The first I knew about it was when I drifted back, expecting to slot into ninth position but found myself sprinting to get back up to the sixth wheel.

The run in to the finish was a bit sketchy. In fact all of the corners were sketchy today in the wet but we all got around safely, which was the main priority.

My Sky team recorded the fifth fastest time, just 35 seconds behind stage winners and pre-race favourites Orica GreenEdge.

The Aussie team were second squad to start this evening and benefited from dry roads before the rain started. I think we were one of the fastest teams that actually went out in the wet and had rain the whole time, so we have to be happy enough with that.

Afterwards I watched some of the other teams finish on the TV in the team bus and physically shuddered when I saw the crash that brought down Dan Martin and some of his Garmin Sharp teammates.

Dan’s crash this evening on a straight, flat section of road only highlights the dangers of team time trials and just the thought of something like that happening is exactly what makes the event so stressful for everyone.

After all the training, all the sacrifices leading up to this Giro and finally getting to race in front of his home fans, Dan’s race is over and it looks as if his collarbone is broken, an injury I had not so long ago myself.

It’s terrible, terrible luck for him really. I know from experience that there will be nothing anyone can say to console Dan at the moment. I feel terrible for him and wish him all the best in his recovery but that’s going to be of little comfort to him tonight.