Philip Deignan has had his share of set backs but found a great place in his career with US-based Unitedhealthcare this year. He went on to bag a whole heap of top results and has now landed a two-year deal with Team Sky, confirmed today. Philip Deignan we salute you.
By Brian Canty
Philip Deignan has said that his move to Team Sky is a "dream come true" but believes he's ready for the challenge of moving to the world's biggest team and insisted he won't be overawed by it.
The Donegal man, who celebrates his 30th birthday tomorrow, Saturday, will link up with Team Sky after the current season concludes. He will spend the next two seasons with the David Brailsford-led squad.
"I’m absolutely delighted. It’s a dream come true," he beamed.
Advertisement
"But I’m used to riding in big teams in the past, it’s not necessarily going to be a new experience for me, I rode for Radioshack, I rode for Cervelo, some world class teams so I’m not like a young teenager going into a team racing," he explained.
"I feel like I’m mature and I’m not going to be overawed by the situation. It’s a move that I feel I’m ready for and I’m capable of making. Dave (Brailsford) can probably see that I’m talented and that I’ve had problems over the years and there’s a lot of room for improvement."
"The potential is there to turn me into a good support rider for guys like Froome and Porte so, yeah I’m just delighted that he’s taken me and given me a chance so I’m eager to prove myself and to show that I deserve it," he added.
Deignan said he first heard that there might be an opening at Team Sky as far back as June when his manager, Andrew McQuaid, called him up to tell him.
"Andrew said there was a possibility that Sky were interested," recalled Deignan this afternoon.
"I wasn’t getting my hopes up but as July went through, we negotiated a contract and I went on a Team Sky training camp then in the South of France so I got to know all the team and it went from there."
Though conversations have been brief with Brailsford, the former Vuelta A Espana stage winner admitted he's aware of what his role in the team will most likely entail.
"My main role will be as a support rider in the mountains," he said "That’s mainly where my strengths lie so my main role will be to help some of the bigger GC guys, the likes of (Richie) Porte or (Chris) Froome or whoever the leader may be- just to support them in the mountains."
Related News
"Then obviously the Tour of Italy is starting in Ireland next year so that’s going to be a big goal; I must be 100% ready there to support the team.
"It’s going to be a bit of a change for me because this year, with UnitedHealthCare, I was more of a team leader, and now I’ll be going into more of a support role but I’ve done that in the past for guys like Carlos Sastre (at Cervelo Test Team)."
And as regards riding the Tour de France, for what would be his debut in the race, he said that will be unlikely for 2014, given he'd be at the Giro and to do both would probably be too much.
"At the moment I’m just focusing on the Giro and doing as well as I can and if the Tour came around, it’d be a bonus for sure, it’d be great but I wouldn’t get my hopes up about it too much for next year," he opined.
It really is a testament to Deignan's resilience that he's in this position because he has had a difficult number of years, changing teams and changing bases. He said there have been plenty low-points, but he always believed he'd get to this level.
"There have been a lot of challenges, ups and downs but I’ve come through them pretty well," he said.
"I’ve had my fair share of setbacks over the years but I was always confident I’d get through it. I had good people there around me, my coach, my family and friends were great and you need them in those tough situations for support because the sport is so hard."
"But mentally, I was always pretty confident I’d get through it. Generally speaking, I’m pretty relaxed, I don’t get too stressed out about things and that helps a lot. I was always pretty confident I’d get back to a good level again."
For now, he is focusing on his two remaining big goals for 2013; the Tour of Britain and the World Championships in Florence at the end of the month.
To that end, he's currently in the US at altitude and just wants to honour his remaining commitments to UnitedHealthCare and do Ireland proud in Florence.
"I had the Tour of Utah and Colorado last month and I stayed here training at altitude to fine-tune things and stay focused instead of going home.
"So I’ll go straight to the Tour of Britain next week and then the Worlds. It’s going to be great going to the World Championships with guys who can podium. Before, we’ve always gone but would be well off the podium but this time we’re going with Dan and Nico in great form, so we’ll have guys right up there in the end and it’ll be exciting to be a part of that, to try and help get Ireland a result.”
