Nicolas Roche was in the climbers' jersey (above) before taking the leader's red jersey today on the Vuelta. He tells us he hopes to hold on to the lead for as long as he possibly can.
By Gerard Cromwell
Nicolas Roche fulfilled one of his cycling dreams today when he became the first Irish rider in 25 years to lead a Grand Tour, donning the red jersey of race leader at the Vuelta a Espana on stage eight.
Roche finished third on the stage, five seconds behind winner Leopold Koenig of NettApp and four seconds behind green jersey wearer Daniel Moreno (Katusha) at the summit finish at Alto de Penas Blanco.
Crucially though, the former Irish champion had distanced overnight leader Vincenzo Nibali and second placed Chris Horner by 27 and 23 seconds respectively to give him a 17 second lead going into tomorrow’s ninth stage.
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“I’m not used to having the leader's jersey, but I like it, it’s like a dream,” Roche told stickybottle after his triumph.
"Every year I come to the Vuelta I think about having the red jersey for one day and it’s incredible to do it.”
While Roche came within eight seconds of the yellow jersey at the Tour de France in the first week, he never got any closer. Today he started out with the same deficit to race leader Vincenzo Nibali but managed to go clear in a four man group in the final kilometres of the climb to take over the race lead.
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"I was only eight seconds behind Nibali before the stage and I've never led a Grand Tour before so I wanted to go all out and give it absolutely everything," he said.
“I benefited from a bit of an opening when things stalled in the main pack behind Koenig”
Though clearly suffering in the final kilometre, Roche managed to hang on to the group and take third on the stage to become the first Irishman since Sean Kelly, at the 1988 Vuelta, to lead a Grand Tour and also holds both the white jersey of combined classification leader and the polka-dotted King of the Mountains tunic.
"Right now I'm the happiest man on earth, it's been an incredible week for me."
“Monday is one of the hardest stages of the entire race and if I can get through these three days in the lead that would be great. I don't know how long I'll be in the lead but even just a day or two more would be a bonus. "
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