Irish rider Philip Deignan put in a fantastic effort on the summit climb at the end of stage 2 at the Ruta del Sol. The Donegal man's work on the front for kilometre after kilometre paved the way for team mate Wout Poels to take the stage and the leader's jersey.
It may have been Wout Poels on the top of the podium at the Ruta del Sol today but his victory had Philip Deignan’s fingerprints all over it.
Now aged 34-years and holding his place in the sport’s biggest team, Deignan showed he is one of the best climbing domestiques in the world.
By the time the peloton hit the Alto de las Allanadas climb up to the summit finish, a number of survivors from the early breakaway were still out front.
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And while Astana were to the fore attacking late in the stage, the lion’s share of the work at the head of the fragmenting peloton was done by Team Sky.
Deignan was visible on the front towing the group along, as the breakaway men came back one by one.
The Donegal man did a huge amount of pulling until the attacking started just before the last of the escapees - Diego Rubio (Burgos-BH) - was caught.
Deignan, in the distance, rides on the front of the select group as Astana's Jakob Fuglsang attacks close to the top of the climb.
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Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) would attack from what was a small peloton as the last two escapees were still just up the road from the pack.
But Deignan continued to ride hard to ensure his leaders were spared the need to ride on the front.
Mikel Landa (Movistar) attacked after Fuglsang followed by Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and then Wout Poels (Team Sky).
They eventually caught Rubio with just under 2km remaining after a great ride out front for almost the full stage.
Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Marc Soler (Movistar) and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto Soudal) and Chris Froome (Team Sky) would then catch the four leaders.
Wellens would attack with 1km remaining, with Poels closing him down before the breakaway regroup split and only some caught the two leaders.
But when Poels began the finishing sprint he won it well; by two seconds from Sanchez and Wellens.
In the end Deignan still had the legs to take 20th on the stage, just 1:05 down despite putting in a very big shift.
With Poels now in the leader’s jersey and Froome 7th at 27 seconds, Deignan will be called into action again in coming days.
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