Philip Deignan sits nicely tucked in third wheel during the opening stage of the Volta A la Communicat Valenciana in Spain today. The Donegal man helped his team to finish second on the 37.9-kilometre test against the clock.
By Brian Canty
It was one of the busiest days for Irish professional cycling for quite a while today, Wednesday, with no less than eight riders in action across four UCI-ranked races in three different continents.
In his first competitive race of the year, Irish national road and time-trial champion Nicolas Roche enjoyed a super day as BMC Racing Team stormed to victory on day one of the Volta A la Communicat Valenciana (2.1) in Spain.
Roche’s team clocked a blistering time of 43:17 for the 37.9-kilometre course that including plenty ups and downs and he crossed the line along with four teammates.
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Behind them was Team Sky at 21 seconds where Philip Deignan put in a great shift and a further 28 seconds behind the men in black was Dan Martin’s Quick-Step Floors squad.
Further down the field in ninth were the Cannondale-Drapac team which featured Ryan Mullen, though they had a less-than-ideal start with a time almost two minutes slower than the winners.
Tomorrow sees the riders tackle a 180-kilometre stage which features five category three climbs.
Dan Martin warming up prior to today's opening stage. He and his team posted a fine time which was good enough for third and has them right in contention going into stage two.
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