So far, so very good | Cyclingnews

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So far, so very good(Image credit: Shane Stokes)

An interview with Philip Deignan, August 16, 2005

First year Irish professional Philip Deignan has had an encouraging start to his career, winning the Tour du Doubs at the beginning of July, placing fifth in the European road race championships one week later and generally riding well against the pros. Still just 21 years of age, the Ag2R Prévoyance rider has coped well with the transition to the paid ranks; the young Irishman took some time out of his hectic schedule to speak to Cyclingnews' Shane Stokes.

Deignan, from Letterkenny in Co. Donegal, secured a two-year deal with Ag2R Prevoyance after a fine run of performances last season. He won two stages plus the overall in the Ronde d'Isard World Cup stage race and also took several other high placings in the espoir series, including eighth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Indeed he could well have finished on the podium had he not been sent the wrong way while in a promising-looking break with fellow Irishman - and VC La Pomme teammate - Nicolas Roche. Deignan took a stage of the Tour of Chablais and won the team time trial championship of France with the Marseille-based La Pomme squad.

Things also went well outside France. His strong climbing ability led to third on two stages of the Baby Giro and when riding against the professionals, he showed he was able to move up a gear with some good performances. Two sixth places and sixteen place overall in the Tour de Langkawi ensured some attention, as did finishing eighteenth overall in the Tour of Britain. Several pro teams expressed an interest but in the end he decided to join fellow Irishman Mark Scanlon in the Ag2R Prévoyance team.

"I definitely feel that I am a lot stronger than last year. For the last three or four seasons, I have progressed very steadily. Last year I was just a climber, but this year I seem to be a lot stronger on the flat as well. For example, the Region Wallonne wasn't particularly hilly. There were three or four kilometre climbs alright, but they were all real big-ring climbs. They weren't like the Pyrenees or the Alps."

During his recent full racing schedule, he finished sixth on a stage in the Tour de la Région Wallonne, taking seventh overall at the same race before going on to place third on a stage and eighth overall in Paris-Corrèze. He also finished 19th in the Trophee des Grimpeurs and 20th in the Route du Sud in June, showing that he had recovered from the knee injury which sidelined him in the early season.

PD: Yeah, they are really happy. It's normal. The only thing is when you do well in races, they then always expect more of you. They say "ah, you won this race, so you can go out and do it again this weekend." I had a tough programme there recently; the Tour de la Region Wallonne was five days, I had one day off, then the Polynormande, one day off again and then Paris-Corrèze. It was a really heavy programme. Even after Region Wallonne, they were saying " you did so well there, you can do it again in Paris-Corrèze." They kind of forgot that nearly every other rider in the race hadn't done Region Wallonne and that I might be a bit tired. But I suppose they just have higher expectations of me now than before.