CYCLING TOUR OF SPAIN: PHILIP DEIGNAN all but secured a top-10 overall finish in this year's Tour of Spain yesterday when he placed a fine 13th on the last mountain stage of the race.
Crossing the line one minute and 34 seconds behind the day’s winner Juan Jose Cobo (Fuji Servetto), the Letterkenny rider preserved the ninth place he seized when he won Thursday’s leg to Avila.
Cobo had started yesterday’s stage two minutes 57 seconds back in 10th place, and was therefore the biggest threat to Deignan’s general classification place. While yesterday’s performance saw him narrow the Irishman’s advantage to one minute and three seconds, winning time bonus included, it’s unlikely he can eradicate the remaining gap between them.
“It was really cold coming into the last climb,” said Deignan after the stage. “I found it really hard to get going on the mountain but then I got a rhythm going and managed to limit my losses. I went so deep yesterday (when winning stage 18) that I knew it was going to be really hard to follow the first five or 10 guys today.
“I just tried to limit the losses and held onto ninth in the GC. So that was the main goal.”
Race leader Alejandro Valverde finished second in the gallop to the line, grabbing a 16-second time bonus over most of his rivals. One who lost more time was Robert Gesink, who had started the day second overall but who slipped back due to the crash injuries he suffered earlier this week. He has dropped to sixth, and Samuel Sanchez (Spain) is now second overall.
Valverde will start today’s stage one minute and 26 seconds ahead of the Olympic champion, and is almost certain to retain the yellow jersey.
Deignan will have his own battle to keep his ninth place. Directeur sportif Alex Sans Vega is relatively confident that he can do so.
“I think it’s possible,” he said. “The last time trial in a grand tour needs power. . . It is a question of what energy he has left and what power you have in his legs. I think he has that, he still has the power to do a good time trial tomorrow.”
Ireland’s Daniel Martin meanwhile finished 65th yesterday and is 53rd overall.
STAGE 19 DETAILS
(Avila to La Granja 174km): 1 J Jose Cobo (Spa) Fuji-Servetto 4hrs 37mins 35secs, 2 A Valverde (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne at 0.02, 3 C Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto at same time, 4 S Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at same time, 5 D Moreno (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne at same time, 6 E Mosquera (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia at same time, 7 P Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre-NGC at same time, 8 I Basso (Ita) Liquigas at same time, 9 M Vaquez (Spa) Contentpolis-Ampo at 1.34, 10 R Di Gregorio (Fra) Francaise des Jeux at same time, 11 Dl Navarro (Spa) Astana at same time, 12 T Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale at same time, 13 P Deignan (Irl) Cervelo TestTeam at same time, 14 H Zubeldia (Spa) Astana at same time, 15 J Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne at same time Selected Others: 88 Roger Hammond (Gbr) Cervelo TestTeam 4hrs 56mins 36secs, 116 David Millar (Gbr) Garmin-Slipstream at 19.16
General classification: 1 A Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 83hrs 34mins 03secs, 2 S Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 1.26, 3 I Basso (Ita) Liquigas at 1.45, 4 C Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto at 1.59, 5 E Mosquera (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia at 2.11, 6 R Gesink (Ned) Rabobank at 5.30, 7 P Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre-NGC at 6.49, 8 J Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 7.42, 9 P Deignan (Irl) Cervelo TestTeam at 9.37, 10 Juan Jose Cobo (Spa) Fuji-Servetto at 10.40 11 D Moreno (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 13.06 12 D Navarro,(Spa) Astana at 13.39 13 J Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil at 14.03.
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