No Deignan in Team Sky Tour de France line-up; Bernal (21) picked

Philip Deignan is not named in the Team Sky Tour de France line-up. However, 21-year-old Colombian Egan Bernal is included.

 

No Philip Deignan in Team Sky Tour de France line-up

 

Chris Froome will lead Team Sky at the Tour de France, with Colombian climbing ace Egan Bernal (21) also named.

However, there is no place for Ireland’s Philip Deignan in the selection for the next three weeks.

While Deignan is a Grand Tour stage winner, he has never ridden the Tour de France.

He has started 10 Grand Tours during his career and finished eight; the Giro five times and Vuelta on three occasions.

Deignan’s best ride came in the Vuelta of 2009 when he won stage 18 and finished 9th overall.

However, at 34-years-old the chances of Philip Deignan riding the Tour during his career are now low.

The Tour had last week begun the process of trying to block Froome from riding because his Vuelta adverse test for salbutamol had not been resolved.

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However, news broke yesterday he had been cleared. And it means Team Sky is all set to try and capture a fifth Tour win with Froome.

Another rider in the team with general classification aspirations is Geraint Thomas. He will be the team’s next general classification man after Froome.

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However, many will be looking to Bernal to see what he can do. He has already been touted as a future winner of the race.

And in making his debut this year in his first season at WorldTour level, it will be very interesting to see how he rides.

 

No Philip Deignan but very strong

The remainder of the team is a very strong one, as expected from the world’s richest outfit.

As well as Froome, Thomas and Bernal; Michal Kwiatkowski and Wout Poels also ride. They would be team leaders in any other squad,

Furthermore, the same could be said for Bernal and Thomas.

The Team Sky line-up for the 2018 Tour de France is completed by Jonathan Castroviejo, Gianni Moscon and Luke Rowe.

While not riding the Tour, Philip Deignan has been shortlisted for Ireland for the European Championships.

 

 

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