Philip Deignan is riding well this season and was up the road for most of today’s 200km Brabantse Pijl; a race featuring the heaviest of hitters
By Graham Healy
Philip Deignan (UnitedHealthcare) put in another impressive performance during today’s Brabantse Pijl in Belgium. He went clear in a break that stayed away for most of the day and was only dropped from the leaders with less than 30 kilometres to go as the escape was caught by some of the strongest riders in the world.
The field had to contend with 25 climbs in total over the 200-kilometre course and the race finished with three large laps of a circuit in Overijse to the east of Brussels, with five climbs per lap.
Deignan managed to get into the six-man escape after a hectic first hour of racing when echelons were forming. The group went on to build up a maximum lead of over 4 minutes by the 60-kilometre mark, though the peloton never let the gap get too big in the 1.HC UCI ranked race.
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The others with Deignan were Kenny Dehaes (Lotto Belisol), Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis), Ben Hermans (Radioshack- Leopard), Nikolas Maes (Omega – Pharma Quick Step) and Youcef Reguigui (Team MTN Qhubeka).
The Algerian Reguigui was the first rider to be dropped and with 50 kilometres remaining the leaders’ advantage was down to just a minute. Attacks from riders in the bunch helped to decrease the gap even further, with a number of riders including Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil) getting across to Deignan’s group.
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The lead group splintered coming towards the last lap and Deignan was amongst those dropped.
Some top names made it across, including Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC). And it was this duo that would eventually contest the win. The Slovakian just narrowly edged out the World Champion for victory.
Sagan joins the list of big names that have taken victory in Brabantse Pijl in the past including Eddy Merckx, Freddy Maertens, Johan Museeuw and Gilbert.
Deignan, meanwhile, pulled out of the race with a lap to go having put in a huge effort and further underlined his return to form this season.
He has finished in the top-20 overall in three stage races so far in 2013, and along today’s performance suggests that a win might not be too far away.
Dan Martin (Garmin-SHARP) and Matt Brammeier (Champion System) also lined out today and Martin in particular put in a very good ride, helping to drive the peloton along and reduce the gap to the leaders. That ride will give him confidence in advance of the forthcoming Ardennes classics.
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