CYCLING:ALTHOUGH HE has missed out on some training due to a knee problem, Cervélo Test Team professional Philip Deignan is feeling secure as he heads towards the start of what will be his sixth pro season.

Winning a stage and finishing ninth overall in the 2009 Vuelta a Espana has clearly boosted his confidence, and he knows that he will be able to show form when he needs to.

“I started the team training camp a little bit behind where I would want to be, as I had a small problem with my knee over the winter,” he told The Irish Times yesterday. “I missed out on about three weeks training, so I came to the camp with less kilometres than I was planning.”

Deignan held back during the Portugal camp, which finished last weekend, doing some slightly shorter spins than some of the other riders. It’s a measure of how much he has changed in the past 12 months that he is not too worried.

“If this had happened this time last year, I would be panicking,” he admitted. “But it will be fine. Anyway, I am not starting racing until March and I don’t need to be doing the intensity that some of the others are doing at the moment.”

The Letterkenny rider’s first race will be in the Clasica de Almeria on February 28th, after which he will ride the Vuelta a Murcia, the Volta a Catalunya, the Circuit de la Sarthe and then the Ardennes Classics.

The Tour of California and the Dauphine Libere follow, then, he hopes to make his debut in the Tour de France.

Being selected for the biggest race in cycling will depend on what form he is showing in the run-up to the event. He’ll try to log some good results well before then, though. “The teams want me to perform as well as possible in the Ardennes, in Fleche and Liege, so I will give it a go there,” he said, naming those races as his first big goal. “Then California and the Dauphine are races that should suit me pretty well too, so I will try to get a result there as well.”

Deignan’s fellow professionals Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Daniel Martin (Garmin Transitions) are due to start competing soon. They, too, show great promise and are also in contention to ride the Tour this year.

Roche made his debut in the race last July and was second, fourth, eighth, eighth and 10th on stages, as well as 23rd overall.