Playing truant helped Deignan to get on his bike

HOME AND AWAY - CYCLIST PHILIP DEIGNAN:The Donegal rider talks to Shane Stokesabout his background, his professional career and his desire to deliver on his potential.

BACK IN January 2003, Philip Deignan's parents got an indication of just how serious their son was about becoming a professional bike rider. He'd already shown some promise and a lot of interest in the sport but was, they thought, studying away at John Moores University in England. The reality was a little different.

"I was in the university in Liverpool, doing quantity surveying" he said, speaking in the mountain village of Pescocostanzo, immediately after the recent seventh stage of the Tour of Italy. It is his second three-week Tour as a pro. "I had made contact with the VC La Pomme team in Marseille, so I went there for a training camp in December during the holidays.

"My parents knew I was going there for two weeks, but I decided to stay after that. I went back to the university in Liverpool for about two days, then I headed straight back to Marseille.

"They were calling the place I was staying in in Liverpool, wanting to speak to me, and the guy whose house I was staying in at the time (well-known frame-builder Terry Dolan) was making up all sorts of excuses. He was saying I was studying in the library and everything. I finally told them after I'd been in France about two weeks.

"They were a little bit upset," he said, with a degree of understatement. "They wanted me to get an education first. But I explained to them that if you go to university and finish at 23, it is too late for cycling . . . you are too old to turn pro. So I said to them to give me two years. If I didn't turn pro in that time, I'd go back to studying."

His parents agreed to the deal and things accelerated from there.

The Donegal rider had already shown a degree of promise before that time.

He started cycling in his mid-teens when he did a charity ride from Sligo to his home town of Letterkenny for cancer research.

Noticing his strength, some of those in the local club suggested he take up racing. He quickly showed a flair for the sport.

"I did a few local races later on that year and then moved on to national level the season after that. I won a few races and then got on the Irish team for some international events. It just built up from there."

In August, 2002 Deignan went to the Eagle Tour in Malaysia. Despite being the youngest competitor in the race, the then 18-year-old highlighted his climbing ability when he placed fourth on the toughest stage, won the under-23 classification and placed ninth overall.

"That was an important result for me," he said. "I had gone to Belgium in the summer of that year. It was my first year as an espoir (over-18); first time really racing abroad, and I had a really, really good time.

"I spent July, August, September there. It was a great experience and that is when I thought that maybe I would to love to do this for a living. That was the first time."

Competing in France backed up his suspicion that he was a talented climber.

"Racing in Ireland never really allowed me exploit it," he said, referring to the lack of high mountains, "but whenever there was a hill I felt that maybe I was a little bit better than the other guys.

"I really noticed it the first time I went to Malaysia and I started hitting the big climbs. And again when I went to VC La Pomme in Marseille."

That year he took some solid results, including a team time-trial win in the Giro della Valle d'Aosta, and then in 2004 things really started clicking. Prior to the start of the season the French Ag2r Prévoyance squad had expressed a possible interest in him; that turned into a firm contract offer when he went on to take two stages plus the overall in the top-class under-23 event Ronde de l'Isard d'Ariège, as well as two third places on stages of the Baby Giro. Finishing 16th against the professionals in the Tour de Langkawi and 18th in the Tour of Britain also confirmed his ability.

Deignan has taken some solid results since turning pro and now divides his time between France, Belgium and Ireland.

He isn't back here very often, mainly in the off-season, but recently has been spending a lot more time around Irish riders than before.

"I am staying in the Seán Kelly Academy in Belgium," he said. "As regards Marseille, I'm not there as much as before. Earlier this year I was sick and had bad morale, and found that I was there a lot by myself.

"I am racing so much that I didn't really need to train too much between the races, so the fact that the training roads are not great in Belgium was not really going to affect my preparation too much.

"For me, it was more important to be around a group of people, not to be alone. I'll keep doing that for the immediate future. I still have an apartment in Aubagne, 20 kilometres outside Marseille, so I can use that when I want. It's good if I want to do some training in the mountains."

The An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Seán Kelly team are also based in the Belgian Academy, and the team manger, Kurt Bogaerts, feels that this is mutually beneficial.

"Philip has a group of guys he knows to train and live with, and they can see what it's like being around a talented professional. He does everything right; he is dedicated to the bike and eats very healthily. It's great for the others to be able to see what it takes."

Deignan's good showing in hilly stage races suggests that he has a strong future in the sport. However, he's been held back by a bout of glandular fever in 2006 and, last year, some lingering injuries. He has consequently raced far less as a pro than he would otherwise have done.

A solid season would do a lot to further build his strength, and will help him to get an idea of what he is capable of.

He had hoped to place in the top 30 in the Tour of Italy - which finishes in Milan this Sunday - but a bad chest infection during the race put paid to those plans.

Still, he showed he is recovering with a solid 30th place in Monday's mountain time trial to the Plan de Corones.

"I was a bit surprised at that as I didn't warm up much beforehand and held back during it, keeping my pulse down to 160," he said afterwards.

Talking to Deignan, it's clear he gets frustrated at times because he feels he has not yet achieved as much as he is capable of. His talent is obvious, though, and stage wins in the three week Tours are not out of the question.

Providing he finally gets a long run free of injury and illness, he will deliver on that potential which compelled him to play truant from university and follow a different career path to most.

Keen to deliver on early promise

COMING FROM Letterkenny in Donegal, 24-year-old Philip Deignan is one of Ireland's most promising young cyclists.

He turned professional with Ag2r in 2005 and quickly got up to speed, winning the Tour du Doubs race, placing fifth in the European Championships, seventh in the Tour de Wallonie and ninth in the World Under-23 Championships.

The following season was hampered by glandular fever but he returned to take second on one of the hardest stages of the Tour de l'Avenir, viewed as a mini-Tour de France for the future stars in the sport.

Last season was also curtailed by injury but, despite limited preparation, he took part in the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain) and finished 10th, 12th and 16th on mountain stages in his first Grand Tour.

That suggests a very bright future in such races.

Deignan had hoped for a top-30 place in the Giro d'Italia, currently taking place, but a bad chest infection prevented him from riding to his full potential.

He has, though, other chances in the season to chase a big result; it's surely only a matter of time.