Nicolas Roche is aiming to continue his career's steady upward curve with Team Sky from January under the watchful eye of Dave Brailsford.
For the past few years, every time his contract has come to an end, Nicolas Roche has been linked to Team Sky.
With a two year contract with Tinkoff-Saxo coming to an end this season, Roche’s name was once again mentioned in relation to the British based squad.
But it wasn’t until yesterday that he finally put pen to paper on two-year deal with the team, where he will join compatriot Philip Deignan next year.
“I’m really excited about joining Team Sky next year”, Roche told stickybottle.
“The set up and the structure is one of the best teams in the world, if not the best team in the world.
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“I think I can bring a lot of experience with me but I can definitely still learn from Sky and I think joining this team will help me develop a bit more.”
Although Roche is yet to discuss his race program for next year with the team, it is expected he will ride in support of team leader Chris Froome at next year’s Tour de France, in a similar role to the one that he filled for Alberto Contador this year.
Nicolas Roche will join forces with Bradley Wiggins at Team Sky next year, and he wants to race on until he's close to 40 years old.
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“My program still needs to be talked about but were going to have a get together at the end of October and we’ll discuss that then.
“From what I understand, I will be doing a bit of everything but the main goal of the year will be to win the Tour de France with Chris Froome and that’s something I really want to play a part in and am really excited about.
“Alberto and Chris are two very exciting riders and you could see from the Vuelta that when the two of them are at a good level and they compete against each other they put on a very exciting show.
“This year they both missed out at the Tour de France with crashes but I think next year there will be a great battle again.”
A veteran of 13 Grand Tours now, Roche has made what could be called ‘marginal gains’ all through his career; steadily improving season upon season, and he feels that next year will bring more of the same.
“I was 30 in July but I still think I can progress. I think I can benefit from all the knowledge that the team has accumulated regarding diet, equipment and training.
“I hope to have another seven or eight years as a pro and hopefully I can keep improving in some way all the time.”
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