With no Vuelta a Espana in his legs this year, Nicolas Roche hopes to be fresher at the World Championships in Ponferrada, where he will ride three races and is the first Irish rider in action tomorrow, Sunday (Photo: Sirotti)
By Gerard Cromwell
Nicolas Roche will be the first Irish rider in action at the World Road Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, this weekend when he takes to the start for the team time trial title race tomorrow, Sunday.
Unlike the rest of the championships, the team time trial is ridden by professional squads instead of national teams and Roche will line up as part of a strong looking Tinkoff-Saxo outfit that could be a good outside bet for a medal.
“It’s a good course for us," Roche told stickybottle.
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"It’s not really flat and there are a couple of little kickers on it, so it’s a bit more technical than last year when you needed a bit more horsepower.
“I think we have a pretty solid team for the type of course this year and hopefully it will go well for us. It’s difficult to know what to expect but everyone is really motivated and I think we’re a bit stronger than last year.”
Roche arrived in Spain on Tuesday off the back of an aggressive ride at the eight-day Tour of Britain where he finished fifth overall.
“I felt pretty run down after the Tour of Britain so I took two days off afterwards and started training again on Wednesday morning here in Ponferrada.
"Hopefully I'll be a bit fresher at the Worlds this year than other years when I’ve come into the race in good shape but lacked a bit of freshness from digging deep at the Vuelta for three weeks beforehand.”
Roche will ride the individual time trial as well as the road race for Ireland this year; competing in the test on Wednesday and the road race next Sunday.
Despite a solid ride at the Tour of Britain, his third place finish on stage three atop the category one climb of The Tumble still haunts Roche a little.
“I was a bit disappointed with that stage," he admits.
"Okay, it was nice to get third but I think I missed out on an opportunity to win the stage and go into yellow.
“There are a few times in the year when you have an opportunity where you know you can actually win and looking back on that day, I really feel I could have done better.”
On the day in question Roche attacked out of the peloton and rode across to lone leader Edurado Zardni with 2km to go, before immediately jumping past the Italian and seemingly heading towards stage victory.
But the Irishman began to fade in the final kilometre and Zardini recovered to take the stage win and the race lead while Roche was also caught on the line by Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski of Omega Pharma Quickstep.
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Roche was in this team time trial line-up at the Giro in Belfast back in May and will put in the same effort with Tinkoff-Saxo at the World Championships tomorrow, Sunday, in Spain.
“When I caught Zardini near the top I’d already put myself on the limit to get across to him so when I accelerated to drop him I went into the red trying to open the gap.
“I’ve read loads of comments on the internet about riding too big a gear but not everyone can spin a little gear on a climb at the end of a long stage and I don’t think it was any bigger than I usually ride.
“My mistake was to attack him straight away. I went that bit over the top to try and get away from him and it caught up with me in the end.”
After tomorrow's team time trial at the Worlds, Roche will join up with the Irish team, who happen to be staying in the same hotel for the rest of the week.
“It’s pretty handy this year,” he laughs.
“I just go down one floor in the hotel and I’m there. A lot of the guys are here already. Ryan Mullen arrived a few days ago and a lot of the staff are here too.”
Checking out the course at last year's Worlds in Florence with cousin Dan Martin. Both are capable of medaling next Sunday in the elite men's road race if things went their way (Photo: Sirotti)
After the individual time trial on Wednesday, Roche will join up with Sky's Philip Deignan and cousin Dan Martin of Garmin Sharp in the elite men’s road race next Sunday.
“I haven’t seen all of the course for the road race but I think we have a pretty good team here," Roche said.
"Philip and Dan have both shown they’re in good form at the Vuelta and I think the course should be good for us.
"Obviously with only three riders we will have to be smart as well as strong but hopefully we can get a good result.”
Afterwards, Roche returns to Ireland on Friday November 3, to take part in his annual charity ride, the Nicolas Roche Classic, which begins in Fairyhouse Racecourse on Saturday October 4.
This year’s event will raise funds for Barnardo’s children’s charity and entries are being taken at www.nicolasrocheclassic.com
The Nicolas Roche Classic on October 4th will help raise money for Barnardo's Children's Charity.
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