Deignan set for Giro homecoming

Philip Deignan is relishing the opportunity to start his first Grand Tour for Team Sky in familiar surroundings.

Irishman ready for Big Start in Belfast

Philip Deignan is relishing the opportunity to start his first Grand Tour for Team Sky in familiar surroundings as the Giro d’Italia kicks off in Belfast. With the Grande Partenza taking place on Irish soil in 2014, the rider from County Donegal will be able to count on great support during the opening three days, which culminate with a run into Dublin on Sunday. Already part of an elite group of riders who can call themselves Grand Tour stage winners, the 30-year-old will be targeting more success in May, particularly in the mountains. With the race fast approaching, we caught up with Deignan to get his pre-event thoughts. Team Sky: What will it mean starting the Giro in Ireland? Philip Deignan: It’s going to be a special experience racing at home. I’ve been a professional cyclist for 10 years but I’ve only had the chance to race in Ireland a handful of times. I remember going to watch the Tour de France in Dublin in 1998 and that was one of the reasons why I started cycling in the first place, so to have imagined back then that I’d be starting a Grand Tour in Ireland myself was unimaginable so it’s going to be memorable, for sure. I know the Irish stages quite well and they’re going to be pretty spectacular. I’ve ridden around Belfast a few times and I know Stormont and the iconic places along the Antrim coast like the Giant’s Causeway. Armagh is somewhere I’ve been to a lot and I also lived in Dublin for a few years, so it’s going to be a really special experience. Once you get out of the city there are a lot of winding roads with hedges at either side so even if it’s windy, they often protect you so I wouldn’t expect that to play a major role. TS: It seems like a great time for cycling in Ireland. PD: Cycling in Ireland is booming at the moment – in the last four or five years it’s really taken off. Back in 1998 the crowds were massive, so to think now that cycling’s even bigger than it was back then means I’m expecting a huge turnout. You can see the buzz is building momentum. There are adverts every 10 minutes or so on TV about it and all my friends and family are talking about it on social media. A lot of them will be travelling over to watch and it’ll be nice to see so many familiar faces on the road. TS: What are your hopes and aims for the race? PD: Obviously getting the pink jersey on day one would be the dream scenario. When you look at our team we’ve got some strong guys there with a lot of horsepower, but there are a lot of other strong teams that are going to be there. It’s going to be tough but we’ll do what we can. In terms of fitness I’m about where I wanted to be. I only came back from injury at Coppi e Bartali so have been playing catch up a bit. The Giro del Trentino was good for building my race sharpness and I’ve had a good block of training in Monaco since then, but I’m probably still a few weeks away from my very peak form. Because of that I won’t be targeting the GC, my main goal will be helping Dario [Cataldo] and Kosta [Siutsou] and then going for stage victories in the second half of the race. I’m hoping to ride myself into form in that respect and try and get into a breakaway and maybe take one of the mountain stages. You can find details on the full route for the 2014 Giro d’Italia in our Race Guide.