Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan had been in the running all season to ride the Tour de France for Team Sky. The squad has named its roster today, with Roche gaining selection but Deignan being omitted (Photo: Sirotti)
Having been completely in the dark in recent days about whether he would ride the Tour de France, despite riding some of the route with the squad in training last week, Nicolas Roche has made the Team Sky line-up for the race.
However, there was disappointment for Philip Deignan, who despite some amazing form and work for the team this year and last, has been omitted from the Tour roster.
The team is: Chris Froome, Richie Porte, Geraint Thomas, Peter Kennaugh, Ian Stannard, Luke Rowe, Nicolas Roche, Leonard König and Wout Poels.
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The fact Deignan is not riding comes as a disappointment for him and Irish fans but is not an unexpected development.
His presence at the National Road Race Championships in Omagh yesterday, where he was forced to abandon with a mechanical early in the event, was a strong sign he would not be riding the Tour.
In recent years Irish riders taking part in the Tour have not ridden the Irish championships because the title race is only six days before the start of the Tour.
One wonders what Philip Deignan will have to do to get selected to ride the Tour de France. It is an event he is yet to compete in (Photo: Sirotti)
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Roche had spoken all season of riding the Tour de France but got a major scare last week when Team Sky website published an 11-rider list presented as its Tour line-up.
The team was quick to dismiss this development, saying its publication was a mistake and that the names on the list had no bearing on its Tour team, which would be nine-strong anyway.
While neither Deignan’s nor Roche’s names were on the list, Roche was pictured with Chris Froome training on some of the climbs the Tour will take in as part of a reconnaissance outing.
Photos of the pair emerged on Twitter the same day the team list of names was accidentally published.
Many pointed to Roche’s inclusion in the Tour recon camp with Froome as proof he was definitely riding the race.
But stickybottle has established that as recently as yesterday afternoon, only a very small number of Team Sky riders had been told they were definitely riding the race and Roche was not one of them.
It means despite being sent to train on the Tour course with Froome last week, along with other members of the team, Roche’s selection for the race went down to the wire, as it did for most of the other nine who will now ride the race.
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