Irish cyclist Philip Deignan is currently in great form at the Ruta del Sol. Team Sky, and specifically Chris Froome, are under serious pressure. Deignan talks about that, his form and also Irish cycling stalwart Gaybo Howard.
Irish cyclist Philip Deignan on Chris Froome, Gaybo Howard
By Luke Maguire
Currently riding the Ruta del Sol, Philip Deignan has told stickybottle he is pleased with how he is going. And he says he has been taking the controversy surrounding Chris Froome in his stride.
The Tour de France and Vuelta champion returned an adverse dope test result on stage 18 of the latter race last year.
Levels of the asthma drug salbutamol were double what is permitted. And while Froome is not banned from racing, he must now furnish an explanation that satisfies the anti doping authorities he was not cheating.
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If he can’t do that he faces a ban and being stripped of his Vuelta title. For now he is allowed to continue racing and Deignan says that as Froome has done nothing wrong he cannot be expected to stop racing.
The Irishman said it could take many months to address the issue. He added Froome could not be expected to sit out the racing season for that length of time when he was not guilty of wrongdoing.
Froome said today he believed the media was hyping the situation. And he said in recent days that nobody was more anxious that he to resolve the issue.
The team has taken a stage win and leads the race, both via Wout Poels, and Deignan says they are getting on with the job of racing.
“The morale in the team is good, we’re just getting on with it,” Deignan said before the start of today’s stage 3 in Spain.
“Chris seems in good shape and is dealing with the outside pressure really well,” he added.
“He’s done a lot of training in South Africa before coming here. So obviously physically he’s well prepared too.
“He’s quite good at just getting on with the job in hand, so that has helped to keep the morale up.”
Froome may be under extreme pressure of his adverse dope test, but Deignan says the team is focussed on getting on with its job in the race.
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Deignan seems to be in very good form at present. He pulled very hard on the front of the thinning peloton for several kilometres on the Alto de las Allanadas climb up to the summit finish on Thursday’s stage 2.
His efforts jettisoned a huge number of riders out the back and would also reel in the last of the early escapees.
And as the last couple of kilometres approached Poels and Froome were among those attacking in the final; Poels eventually sprinting to win.
“The race has gone perfectly for us so far with Wout picking up the yellow jersey on day two,” said Philip Deignan.
“I was very happy with my own performance. We had seen videos of the final climb on stage two so we were looking how best to tackle it.
“My job was to set a good pace on the lower slopes and try not to go too far into the red too soon because it was such a steep climb.”
He said today’s stage 3 was “a fairly straightforward bunch sprint”. It was won by Sacha Modolo (EF-Drapac) with no change overall.
“We have another short steep finish tomorrow,” he said of Saturday’s stage 3. “So it looks like it will be decided in the TT on the final day.
“The time gaps are looking quite tight at the moment. We're aiming for either Wout or Chris to be able to finish it off in the TT.”
Philip Deignan tribute to Irish legend
Deignan also spoke to stickybottle about Irish cycling stalwart Gaybo Howard. The Stamullen RC man was very sadly killed in a farming accident involving a teleporter vehicle last week.
There was huge shock and sadness at Gaybo’s sudden death. And having come up through the domestic scene, Deignan said knew Gay and wife Kay well.
They had always supported him down the years; something he was touched by.
“He was a lovely man and had a great way about him,” he said of Gay.
“He was one of those bubbly characters who knew everybody and was loved by all. Gaybo will be a huge loss to Irish Cycling.
“For me personally he was always great at staying in touch. He’d send me a text every now and then asking how I was.
“Or he’d be congratulating me on a good performance. There are not many who were as passionate and enthusiastic about cycling as Gaybo. He’ll be sorely missed.”
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