Philip Deignan (the middle of three Unitedhealthcare riders in blue & white) looking comfortable in the sunshine of the opening stage of the Tour of California yesterday
Winner of the Tour of the Gila (2.2) in New Mexico the weekend before last, Philip Deignan has started his Tour of California campaign looking very comfortable against first class opposition.
The Unitedhealthcare professional was among a group of 49 riders that came home just six seconds down on the leading duo of Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Franciso Mancebo (5-Hour Energy p/b Kenda) on yesterday’s opening stage.
They slipped away in the attacking of the closing couple of kilometres into Escondido, with Westra easily taking the stage win and the first leader’s yellow jersey of the race.
The stage was a testing enough opener, with the 165km run off in very high temperatures. The riders had to negotiate three categorised climbs, with the last of those crested just 30km from the finish. It was on that final climb of Cole Grade that the peloton split, with even riders of the calibre of last year’s winner of five stages Peter Sagan finding himself distanced.
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While he got back on with the help of his Cannondale team mates, most of the field never recovered.
However, Donegal's Deignan could be seen very comfortable in the group as it whittled down to no more than 25 or 30 riders by the top of the climb. As the group swelled to around 50 on the descent, it closed in on the early breakaway and after they were caught Westra and Mancebo took flight with around 5km remaining.
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Deignan looked very comfortable throughout the stage, but will face a much tougher test today with a finishing climb to Palm Springs which averages 9.7 per cent. In his current form the Irishman may well be in there looking to upset some of the ProTour teams like Cannondale, BMC, Leopard Trek and Vacansoleil.
National champion Matt Brammeier (Champion System) had a more difficult time yesterday. He was distanced with most of the bunch on the last climb and came home in a group 10:54 down, though the field was scattered back the road some 20 minutes after Westra took the victory.
Brammeier has already said he believed the first two stages would not suit him, but hoped to get into some breakaways on the flatter stages.
You'll find a highlights video of the first stage below.
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