One of the very strongest riders in the race, Philip Deignan looked in absolutely superb form at the Tour de Yorkshire, with US assignments now awaiting him.
Philip Deignan capped off a memorable weekend in his career by safely steering teammate Lars Petter Nordhaug towards victory on the final stage of the 2.1-ranked Tour de Yorkshire yesterday.
His next assignment is the week-long Tour of California starting next weekend.
The Irishman played an absolutely crucial role in his team’s overall win in the UK, sacrificing his own chances of stage and possible outright glory in the service of his Norwegian teammate.
Having flown somewhat under the radar so far this year, Deignan reminded cycling fans of his talent with some truly excellent riding.
He took fifth on Friday’s opening stage before steering clear of danger on Saturday, and yesterday riding on the front at critical stages.
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And nowhere was his dominance on the front more important than inside the final 30 kilometres on the stage from Wakefield to Leeds which featured a whopping 3,000 metres of climbing.
Nordhaug comes home for the stage 1 win, with Deignan just behind in the process of sticking his two hands up in celebration of a great victory for the team. The Irishman did a lot of the driving to split the field and pull the winning breakaway clear.
BMC Racing Team, with three riders in the top 10, were always going to try something. But Deignan and teammate Davide Lopez controlled matters brilliantly.
Their mandate for the afternoon was to shut down any potentially dangerous moves while also setting a strong tempo at the front.
Deignan started the day fifth overall at 16 seconds but it was clear from an early point in the race that the team’s plan was all centred around Nordhaug.
After a dangerous move was shut down in the opening 30 kilometres, Team Sky set about controlling the tempo on the front, with Nathan Earle, Ian Boswell, Chris Sutton and Salvatore Puccio getting through a huge amount of work during the toughest stage of the race.
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Deignan and Lopez, better climbers than the above, were always going to be spared until the finish and it was just as well that was the case, with BMC Racing Team lurking with intent.
The men in red and black hit the front on the way out of Ilkley on the latter part of the stage, but it was a dig from Deignan on the final climb of the day to Otley Chevin that thinned out the group significantly.
Deignan drives the breakaway on stage 1. He was a constant presence on the front at the weekend and when he dug in he put the whole field under pressure.
That took the wind out of their sails and the winning of the race, said sports director Rod Ellingworth afterwards, was when Nordhaug claimed a vital one second time bonus in Arthington following Deignan's surge.
The reason for that was because the Norwegian led second-placed Samuel Sanchez (BMC Racing Team) by 10 seconds and by taking that bonus second it pushed his virtual lead out to 11 seconds.
There was a 10-second time bonus on the finish line for the stage winner, meaning had Sanchez won the stage he could potentially have taken the jersey from Nordhaug.
But because Nordhaug took the one-second bonus, BMC seemed to become somewhat deflated and their energies went into chasing the stage, which they landed through Ben Hermans after a strong attack by him.
Deignan and the race leader were in a group of 19 just nine seconds behind the lone stage winner, though the Irish man freewheeled over the line at the back of the group and lost some additional seconds.
It was a job very well done by the Donegal man and he finished 5th overall at 24 seconds.
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