TEAM SKY THIS morning confirmed their line-up for the Giro d’Italia, which is due to take place in May.
Letterkenny native Philip Deignan is not part of the 10-man squad for the first major of the year that will start in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.
Compatriot Nicolas Roche is also not in Team Sky’s plans for Italy, generally an indicator that the rider is being kept fresh for the Tour de France.
Deignan is currently recovering from a broken elbow suffered in a training crash in Majorca last month, but is expected to make a full comeback in the coming weeks.
Cycling website, stickybottle.com are speculating that Deignan is in with a chance of competing in the Tour de France for the first time. They said:
Deignan was not included in the team’s Giro plans for last year, increasing hopes at the time he was being rested with a view to riding the Tour; a race he has never contested.
However, despite enjoying some fantastic form he was not selected.
He broke his elbow in a crash at the National Road Race Championships in Omagh the weekend before the French race got underway.
Deignan crashed last month at a training camp and broke his elbow again, meaning his training has been interrupted.
However, that mishap does not fully explain his omission from the Giro line-up.
He crashed and broke his collarbone in France in February, 2014, and still went on to ride the Italian event three months later when it began in Belfast.
If he can get back into top form in the months ahead and show himself as one of the team’s strongest climbers as he has done in the past, his crash and omission from the Giro team may well put him in the hunt for the Tour this time around.
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