A crash in training this week has not been enough to force any change to Philip Deignan's plans to ride his first race with Team Sky next month (Photo: Shane Stokes)
By Brian Canty
Philip Deignan will make his debut with Team Sky at next month’s season-opening Tour Down Under in Australia, which runs from January 19th to 26th.
The Donegal man was today, Thursday, selected to ride the eight-day stage race alongside Richie Porte, Ian Stannard, Bernard Eisel, Chris Sutton, Luke Rowe and Geraint Thomas.
Deignan is currently in Majorca training with the team in advance of the new season which he’ll hope to start well in, having had some time off the bike since breaking his collarbone in the Tour of Britain in September.
That injury ruled him out of contention for the UCI World Road Championships in Florence.
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However, he was lucky not to suffer any more serious injury than cuts and bruises after crashing on a slick roundabout at training camp on Tuesday. That has not derailed any of his plans and he has been given the nod to start in Australia.
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Team Sky usually perform well in the race and have been on the podium on three of the last four seasons – though a win has so far eluded them.
They will be eager to improve on third place last year through Thomas.
Once again the team will be led by Thomas, with Tasmanian Porte also there for general classification.
The race generally features stages surrounding Adelaide, which varies from flat to moderately undulating.
There are no large mountains in the area, giving specialist climbers like Deignan few opportunities to show their particular skills.
However, one notable climb featured involves a summit finish atop Willunga Hill on Stage five - a 3 km climb at an average gradient of 7.6 per cent which often has a big bearing on the overall result.
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