Deignan set to join Roche at Vuelta
Posted 13 August 2010
Philip Deignan looks set to join Nicolas Roche on the start line of this year’s Vuelta á Espana having been shortlisted to ride the three week Grand Tour by his Cervelo Test Team.
Deignan is one of eleven riders pre-selected to form the nine man Cervelo Test Team who will contest the event which starts in Sevilla on Saturday, August 28th.
Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) has already announced that he will compete in the Vuleta where he will start as one of the leading GC contenders having finished this year’s Tour de France 15th overall.
While Deignan’s selection has yet to be confirmed it is unlikely that the Donegal man will fail to make the final cut after winning a stage and finishing 9th overall in last year’s race.
He also presents the Cervelo Test Team with a fresh pair of legs having skipped this year’s Giro d’Italia to focus on the Tour de France only to be sidelined from that event by recurring illness.
The 26 year old has spent the summer recuperating and rebuilding his form and is determined to salvage something from a season that has been disrupted by a knee injury, over-training, fatigue and a bout of food poisoning.
Deignan, should he be selected, will provide vital support to Carlos Sastre who has already been named as team leader for the race in which he finished second in 2005 and 2007 before taking third in 2008.
“Our team is very motivated and hungry to achieve the best results possible in the Vuelta á Espana. It will be the “home race” for several of our riders and certainly, beside the World Championships, the highlight of the late season,” Philippe Maudult, Sports Director, told Irish Pro Cycling.
“Our goal for the Vuelta is to have a stage win and go for the podium with Carlos Sastre. The course is ideal for him and we will bring a strong team to support him,” he added.
Deignan faces strong competition for a place on the nine-man team with five Spanish riders named on the pool of eleven pre-selected riders.
One of the Spanish riders who looks certain to join Sastre in making the final nine is Inigo Cuesta. It has been announced that race organisers, Unipublic wish to pay tribute to his success of having already started sixteen Vueltas by making him number one on their start list. The proposed tribute has been made in absence of defending champion Alejandro Valverdre who is currently serving a ban for doping offences.
The other riders completing the pool of pre-selected riders are Spaniards Xavier Florencio, Oscar Pujol and Xavier Tondo, Theo Bos (The Netherlands), Stefan Denifl (Austria), Roger Hammond (United Kingdom), Thor Hushovd (Norway) and Brett Lancaster (Australia).
This year’s Vuelta á Espana is 3,352.6 kilometres long and includes two time trials and eight mountain stages. It kicks off with a 13 kilometre nocturnal team time trial through the streets of Sevilla.
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