Without their initially appointed leader for the Giro d’Italia, Riche Porte, nor any other Rigoberto Uran to save their campaign one more time, Team Sky lined up at the season’s first grand tour with a highly experimental squad which so far failed to significantly underline their presence in the event. With one more week to go, however, Philip Deignan feels ready to save the race for the British team, highly motivated to fight for a stage victory following yesterday’s promising appearance.

Fabio Aru (Astana) was the one to take the spoils yesterday after GC contenders finally decided to start a fierce battle on steepest slopes of Montecampione climb, however, Deignan’s attack animated opening parts of the ascent when leaders were still busy looking at each other.

Team Sky rider managed to stay in the favorites’ group while Omega Pharma-Quick Step riders continued to set a bearable tempo, and still pedaling with relative ease decided to launch a brave attack with almost ten kilometers to go.

“I was just riding in the group, relatively easy, and then I saw there were a couple of guys a few seconds up the road, so I decided to jump across,” Deignan said at the summit, after wrapping up for the descent back to the Team Sky bus in the valley below.

“Today was the first day I’ve felt good, so that was already a bonus for me. There was no point in me trying to hang in there in the front group. I thought I’d use the fact that I was nowhere on GC so the leaders would give me a bit of leeway.”

Even though Michael Rogers succeeded Omega Pharma-Quick Step at the front of the maglia rosa group, setting a fierce tempo just after Deignan took off, the Irishman still managed to build a thirty-seconds advantage and maintain it halfway through the finish line.

Even though numerous accelerations from race favorites on Montecampione steepest slopes quickly reduced all of Deignan’s advantage, he still managed to finish the stage in a small group consisting of several strong GC contenders including Cadel Evans (BMC), Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r La Mondiale), Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) or Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp).

“All I knew from my radio was just that the gap was 20-25 seconds and Rogers was riding, so I just kept riding tempo and then Rolland came across,” Deignan said. “I hung on to him, but when Duarte came across I didn’t have the acceleration to follow. I think I got a bit dehydrated towards the end, too, I probably didn’t drink enough but I’ve learned that for the next time I suppose.”

“I thought originally it was going to take a week to get going here but it’s taken two weeks,” Deignan said with a smile. “I’ve felt pretty average for the last two weeks, so it was nice to be able to show what I can do.”

“The idea is to try to get into the early breakaways. That’s what I’ll be trying for the next few days,” he said. “And hopefully, I can come onto the last climb with a little bit more of a gap.”