Can Philip Deignan pull off a massive result at the Tour of Poland after his fantastic ride there last year? The next three days will tell.
Philip Deignan has kept alive his chances of replicating a very strong performance at the Tour of Poland from 12 months ago by holding his own when others floundered yesterday, Tuesday.
The Team Sky man came home at the back of a much depleted peloton on stage 3 after a day when a short climb in the closing kilometres saw over 30 riders tailed off.
Deignan finished in 112th place, close to the rear of the 118 peloton that arrived at the finish to sprint it out for victory at the end of the 166km stage from Zawiercie to Katowice.
He has finished in the bunch on all three of the stages to date and sits 24 seconds down on race leader and stage 1 winner Marcel Kittel (Giant Alpecin), who has gained his lead via time bonuses.
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The first climbing test of this year’s race awaited the field today, Wednesday. The 220km trek from Jaworzno to Nowy Sacz features three tough climbs.
The riders must race around a 7.6km finishing circuit three times after the last ascent is crested, meaning there will likely be a significant regrouping if the bunch splits when the road goes up.
However, the parcours looks testing enough to force splits, with a cat 2 climb and two cat 1 ascents coming in a 50km stretch just before what looks like a flat finishing circuit.
It will be a good test for Deignan, who crashed out of the National Road Race Championships in Omagh in June and injured his elbow.
A good ride over the next few days before the race finishes with a time trial on Saturday should go a long way towards Deignan once again securing his place in Team Sky’s line-up for Vuelta which begins later this month.
Deignan was 7th overall in Poland last year; his 12th place in the concluding time trial stage catapulting him from 17th on general classification into the top 10.
The time trial ride and overall result were among his best performances of 2014, beaten only by his taking 3rd on a stage of the Giro.
Sergio Henao has claimed Team Sky’s best result in the Tour of Poland, finishing 3rd overall two years ago.
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The Colombian is in the field again this week in a very strong Team Sky line-up that should do serious damage on the climbs.
As well as Henao and Deignan, the team also features Ian Boswell, Vasil Kiryienka, David Lopez, Mikel Nieve, Salvatore Puccio and Xabier Zandio.
The hardest stages come on Thursday and Friday, when the climbs will shape the general classification.
Thursday sees the riders tackle a finishing circuit in full twice and partially for a third time for a total of eight categorised climbs before an uphill finish.
Friday consists of a 38.4km circuit to be tackled four times, with two key climbs each lap which should rip the field to shreds.
Stage 3: Zawiercie - Katowice (166km)
1 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling 3:48:41
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
3 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
4 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida
5 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida
6 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step
7 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
8 Pawel Franczak (Pol) Poland
9 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
10 Roger Kluge (Ger) IAM Cycling
112 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky all same time
General Classification
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin 9:51:50
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:06
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica GreenEdge 0:00:10
4 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team
5 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:12
6 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
7 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:16
8 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
9 Lorenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ.fr
10 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
108 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:00:24
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