Nicolas Roche is back on the bike after fracturing his knee cap at the Vuelta and says he is looking forward to his Nicolas Roche Project event in Ireland in a couple of weeks.
He’s bringing Philippe Gilbert to
Ireland and both will lead out a leisure ride, over Wicklow Gap, after an
evening event the night before.
You can get all the details here and there are still some places open for the evening event.
In a piece on coming back from injury,
Roche says he has used all the technology on offer so he could get out on his
bike as he missed it.
He told The Irish Independent he also fell back on advice from 'old reliable' quarters; chiropractor and physical therapist Paul Tansey.
The Dubliner is a good friend of Roche's father from all the way back in their Orwell Wheelers days.
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Tansey advised Roche to use the national
hyperbaric chamber in Dublin to held aid his recovery.
Roche also used vacuum therapy in Spain;
a treatment that sucked the skin off his knee to increase circulation and
prevent fluid gathering on it.
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After 4½ weeks off the bike he was able to return, riding an hour along the seafront on Monaco as a starting session.
He has also since posted a photo of
himself going for a ride with Richie Porte up the Madone; a climb on the Cote
d'Azur.
In general terms about his training,
Roche said while all of his rides are mapped out by his coach, he also uses
common sense.
One thing he does a lot is communicate
with his coach, speaking to him twice a day; a close relationship based on lots
of feedback, clearly.
“In the morning I WhatsApp him to tell
him how I'm feeling or if I think I need to change my training plan and then
afterwards I upload the data,” he said.
He also revealed he scored his best ever
Grand Tour overall placing without using a power meter.
“I didn't buy my first power metre until
2011 and even then I wasn't allowed use it while racing as my team, Ag2r,
weren't sponsored by the manufacturers,” he explained of a time when the pro
game had already very much turned on to the technology.
“In fairness, Ag2r knew it was an
important tool to help me progress and I was allowed have it in my pocket for
some smaller races. But I finished fifth overall at the Vuelta in 2012 without
one.”
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