DONEGAL cyclist Philip Deignan finished in 123rd place with Team Sky on Saturday as the Giro d’Italia wound its way through 200km of rain-soaked County Antrim countryside.
And the Letterkenny man admitted it wasn’t much fun as driving rain made for tough conditions.
The tough weather conditions and high speed throughout made for fraught nerves on the peloton’s five-hour ride.
“I don’t think anybody had a chance to enjoy themselves out there, unfortunately the weather conditions were really bad,” said Philip.
“It was wet all day and with 220 kilometres in the rain, it was not much fun at all.”
Sky’s best placed rider in the bunch sprint was Ben Swift, who took seventh. Deignan himself finished in the main pack, in 123rd place.
Marcel Kittel of Germany won today’s stage two when it finished back in Belfast.
The Orica-GreenEdge rider finished ahead of Nacer Bouhanni in second and Giacomo Nizzolo in third.
By virtue of finishing ahead of his Orica-GreenEdge team-mate Svein Tuft, Australia’s Michael Matthews takes the pink jersey.
Tomorrow’s stage starts in Armagh, and finishes in Dublin after a 187km route, ahead of the race heading to Italy.
Tags:
