Philip Deignan put in the kind of time trial in Poland today that indicates he is in fantastic condition for the Vuelta, and which took him well inside the top 10 overall (Photo: Stefano Sirotti)
Having finished in the bunch on the first four flat stages of Tour of Poland, crashed twice this week on the same hip and climbed close to the head of the race on both mountain stages on Thursday and Friday; Philip Deignan went into today's final time trial sitting a respectable 17th, some 1:25 down on yellow jersey Rafa Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo).
However, the Irishman had clearly saved his best to last and ridden himself into some great form over the week-long contest, taking a fantastic 12th on the 25km test starting and finishing in Krakow.
The Team Sky man, who is far from a noted tester but is well capable of good results in hillier time trials, was 42 seconds off stage winner; Belgian rider Kristof Vandewalle of the Trek Factory squad.
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That was enough to lift Deignan to an excellent 7th overall, 1:24 down on Majka. The strength of his performance is underlined by the fact he actually beat the Polish race leader and Tour de France king of the mountains in the time trial.
The truly impressive feature of Deignan’s ride was that the course was not a climbers’ one.
His final overall position may not have been as high as the third place finish he bagged on a mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia back in May, but it was Deignan's best finish in a World Tour stage race since finishing 9th in the Vuelta five years ago.
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He suffered a steep lack of form for a number of years after that. But having put together a string of top results in the US riding for Unitedhealthcare last year, Deignan got a place back in the top tier with Team Sky.
And he is now showing this season that he has some potentially very big wins still in his legs given half the chance.
August 3rd to 9th: Tour of Poland
Stage 9: Kraków - Kraków 25km
| 1 | Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Trek Factory Racing | 0:29:18 |
| 2 | Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar Team | 0:00:03 |
| 3 | Stephen Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing Team | 0:00:10 |
| 4 | Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team | 0:00:20 |
| 5 | Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:22 |
| 6 | Dario Cataldo (Ita) Team Sky | 0:00:28 |
| 7 | Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:29 |
| 8 | Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing | 0:00:34 |
| 9 | Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:00:38 |
| 10 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica Greenedge | |
| 11 | Mateusz Taciak (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:00:39 |
| 12 | Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky | 0:00:42 |
| 13 | Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo | 0:00:43 |
| 14 | Artem Ovechkin (Rus) RusVelo | 0:00:46 |
| 15 | Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:47 |
| 16 | Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano | 0:00:48 |
| 17 | Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Team Katusha | 0:00:52 |
| 18 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team | 0:00:53 |
| 19 | Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica Greenedge | 0:00:54 |
| 20 | Timofey Kritskiy (Rus) RusVelo | 0:00:55 |
Final General Classification
| 1 | Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo | 30:16:18 |
| 2 | Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:08 |
| 3 | Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:22 |
| 4 | Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:00:34 |
| 5 | Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida | 0:01:20 |
| 6 | Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (CRc) Movistar Team | 0:01:21 |
| 7 | Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky | 0:01:24 |
| 8 | Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | 0:01:41 |
| 9 | Dominik Nerz (Ger) BMC Racing Team | 0:01:42 |
| 10 | Petr Vakoc (Cze) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team | 0:01:49 |
| 11 | Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:01:55 |
| 12 | Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team | 0:02:03 |
| 13 | Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team | 0:02:05 |
| 14 | Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Shimano | 0:02:10 |
| 15 | Wout Poels (Ned) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team | 0:02:14 |
| 16 | Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale | 0:02:19 |
| 17 | Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin Sharp | 0:02:31 |
| 18 | Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Team Katusha | 0:02:59 |
| 19 | Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:03:36 |
| 20 | Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:03:51 |
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