Philip Deignan has never ridden the Tour de France and he will not ride it this year; his Team Sky management deciding to rest him after a tough couple of months racing during which he rode the Giro and Tour de Suisse (Photo: Karl Monaghan)
By Brian Canty
Philip Deignan will not be riding the Tour de France this year after Team Sky announced their nine-rider roster for the race this afternoon, with his naming missing from the list. The move was anticipated.
The Donegal man has had a packed schedule over the last two months, when he rode the Giro d’Italia as well as the Tour de Suisse, excelling in the mountain stages towards the latter of those races.
It had been hoped he would get the call to support team leader Chris Froome for the world’s biggest race, which starts in Leeds tomorrow week. But team principal Dave Brailsford has opted to give him a rest.
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Brailsford has plumped for defending champion Froome as their main general classification man.
He will have the backing of Richie Porte, Geraint Thomas, Mikel Nieve, Bernhard Eisel, Vasil Kiryienka, David López, Danny Pate and Xabier Zandio.
It is a team selection that very few could argue with; Brailsford clearly going for men with experience.
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Deignan, of course, has never ridden the Tour de France but can take some consolation in the fact that he’s likely to ride the Vuelta a Espana later in the season.
He has won a stage of that Grand Tour in the past and finished in the top 10 and at his very best is more than capable of repeating those performances.
This will leave just one Irishman in the race, Nicolas Roche. Sam Bennett was overlooked for selection on Wednesday as his team went for a roster that favours GC men over stage wins, while Dan Martin is just not quite fit enough yet after his horror crash at the Giro d’Italia.
Other notable omissions from the Sky team are Christian Knees, Peter Kennaugh and Bradley Wiggins.
“Team Sky returns to the Tour de France with the reigning champion and we are looking to win the yellow jersey for the third time in three years and a second consecutive time for Chris Froome,” said Brailsford.
“Defending champion Chris Froome is an exceptional talent, a brilliant stage racer, and he’ll lead the team.”
Commenting on Wiggins’ omission from the line-up, Brailsford said: “It has been a golden decade for cycling. Bradley Wiggins lies at the heart of a lot of that success, and although he has not been selected for this race he is still a key member of Team Sky and a great champion.”
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