We’ve put together a round-up of how some of the main media outlets saw the Irish 1-2 in yesterday’s Tour of Beijing stage.
The Irish Independent
Nicolas Roche writes about his win in his ‘Rider Diary’:
“My stomach was doing somersaults as we went under the red kite signalling the final kilometre with maybe four-seconds lead.”
“Usually when I get to get into this position, I manage to mess it all up in the last few metres. But not today. Please God, not today. I can't lose today.”
“I was determined to do it right. I had everything calculated. As Froome was best placed overall of us three, I knew he would be riding flat out for time, so I left him on the front for the final 900m or so.”
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“I was worried about Philip's sprint, though. At 500m to go and with the bunch within touching distance, all bets were off, we were both going for the stage win as Froome drove towards the line in the tailwind.”
“With Philip sitting behind me ready to pounce, I took one last glance back with 300m to go and knew I had to go.”
“I jumped as hard as I could and sprinted absolutely eyeballs out. Philip wasn't giving up though and came halfway up my bike, but I held him off and won the stage. My first win in two years and my first on the World Tour.”
“Philip and I threw an arm around each other as we freewheeled after the finish.” “We've known each other since we were 13 or 14 and the last time we were in Beijing we shared a room in the athlete's village for the Olympics.”
“Philip won his first race in front of me, so I'm sure he'll have no trouble with me finishing in front of him today.”
The Irish Times
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Roche and Deignan to the fore in Tour of Beijing
Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan took an extremely rare Irish international one-two on yesterday’s toughest stage of the Tour of Beijing, netting the top slots after being in the day’s winning break.
Deignan launched a big attack near the bottom of the day’s final climb, 15 kilometres from the finish in Yong Ning Town, and over the remaining three uphill kilometres opened a decent lead over the chasing peloton.
Roche and Vuelta a España runner-up Chris Froome (Sky Procycling) managed to bridge right before the summit. Roche was faster than Deignan in the sprint to the line, landing his first international win since a stage of the 2008 Tour du Limousin.
www.rte.ie
Roche wins Tour of Beijing stage three
Roche's victory was a welcome one for his AG2R team, which is on a desperate quest for WorldTour points in a bid to secure a top level licence for next season.
After a near two-year victory famine, the Irishman was also happy to step back on to the top step of the podium.
"I haven't won a race since the Irish national title in 2009," said Roche, who handed his French outfit only their sixth win of the season.
"It gets frustrating finishing second and third. Only winning matters."
At the foot of the last climb another teammate, Mickael Cherel, helped set the pace for Roche, who then set off to counter-attack Deignan.
Roche waited for Froome to catch up, and the trio came over the summit with a 20sec advantage on the chasing peloton and with 12 km to the finish.
Roche added: "The three of us worked well together. Philip also had his eye on the win. We know each other pretty well, but I think it's the first time we've been in a position to challenge for victory.”
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