Having finished a solid 23 in Flèche Wallonne and 44th in the Amstel Gold Race, Philip Deignan had hoped for a good day in Liège-Bastogne-Liège yesterday. However the Irishman told VeloNation right after finishing seven and a half minutes behind the winner Philippe Gilbert that he wasn’t happy with how things went.
“I was feeling a lot better in Flèche, so I am not sure what happened today. I just had bad legs, and was hoping that I was going to come round. I figured out pretty quick that when we got to the Cote de Wanne that it wasn’t getting any better,” the Team RadioShack rider said. “I did what I could and hung on, hoping that things would get better, but the inevitable happened when I hit La Redoute and got shelled.”
However Deignan is clearly going better than he did in 2010, when he was beset by injury and illness. He takes encouragement from that, and hopes that things continue to pick up.
He finished ninth overall and won a stage in the Vuelta a España in 2009, and wants to get back to that level. “I am a different rider to last year, and am hoping that things will improve for the Giro.
“Tiago Machado has shown that he can ride GC…for the moment I haven’t shown that, so more than likely he will be the team leader and I will see what I can do for him in the mountains. Hopefully things will improve.”
Deignan also outlined his possible schedule for the months; he details the provisional list of races in the video below.