Philip Deignan ending Ireland's 17-year wait to win a Grand Tour stage back on the Vuelta of 2009.
When Philip Deignan sprinted to the finish line into Avila with his arms aloft in triumph on the Vuelta in 2009, he was ending the longest of waits for Ireland.
Not since Stephen Roche’s stage victory in the 1992 Tour de France in La Bourboule had an Irish cyclist would a Grand Tour stage.
During the eighteenth stage that Deignan won, highlights of which can be viewed below, he was part of a large breakaway that pulled clear.
The group contained 16 riders in total and it broke away from the main peloton with about 140km remaining on the stage.
And in the closing stages of the 187km race that day, the then 26-year-old Deignan would press clear from the main breakaway with Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas).
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The Czech rider went too early at the finish. He put in an effort that was part attack and part early gallop. But Deignan simply got onto his wheel and then went past him when the moment was right.
As Deignan drew level and then began to go past his rival, a clearly exhauster Kreuziger sat up. Deignan had won the stage.
And the time gained in the escape saw him finish 9th overall three days later, having started stage 18 in 18th place.
Delighted after impressive victory
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“I was really nervous I don’t go into those situations too often,” Deignan, a Cervélo Test Team rider at the time, told The Irish Times after his win.
“It was really slippery heading to the finish – a couple of times on the roundabouts my wheels were sliding about a little bit and I had to back off.
“I was sure he was going to attack me on the cobblestone part heading into Avila. He never did, so I guess he must not have been able to.
“Then I just kept watching him until near the finish, when I started the sprint. I thought he was stronger than me, I thought he would come by, but he didn’t have the legs.
“At the team meeting this morning the directeur sportif said that I should try to go in a move that went on the first category climb.
“I was probably far enough back in the general classification that the other favourites might not automatically close the break down. The goal was to try to get into a group if it was possible, and it worked out perfectly.”
Philip Deignan wins Vuelta stage 18, 2009
Narrowly beaten by Roche in China, 2011
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