Philip Deignan is starting his fifth season with Team Sky and the Irishman will be looking to support Chris Froome’s attempt at winning the Giro d’Italia. He is set to start his season in Mallorca next week.
Since joining the team, Deignan has ridden in a support role for the team and last year helped Sergio Henao to victory at Paris-Nice and Geraint Thomas at the Tour of the Alps and he says that he will continue with the same role in 2018.
“I don’t think my role in the team has really changed since I joined the team in 2014,” said Deignan. “I came as a support rider and I’ve been concentrating on that going to the big stage races with the big leaders to support them as best I can so I’ve gathered up a lot of experience over the past four years with the team, but I still see myself as a support rider and that hasn’t really changed too much.”
Deignan signed his first professional contract for AG2R Prevoyance back in 2005 and went on to race for Cervelo Test Team, RadioShack and UnitedHealthcare before signing for Team Sky and he’s in a position to provide guidance to the neo-pros joining the team. Amongst the new signings for the team are Kristoffer Halvorsen, Pavel Sivakov and Chris Lawless.
“I think it’s quite a steep learning curve for the new guys that are arriving and they have a lot to take in. Sometimes it might take them a couple of years for them to find their feet. For the first year it’s all about concentrating on the basics for them, training right, getting their nutrition right and finding what kind of rider they are in the peloton.
“Also to get a good training environment, whether it means moving to Nice or to Girona to have that real home environment where you’re training, and you can have a real support network, train well and focus on your cycling.”
Regarding his personal ambitions for 2018, he says: “I would say my goals for the year will be the Giro to go and support Froomey to go for the win there.”
