Nicolas Roche is part of a very strong Team Sky line-up for the Ruta del Sol which starts tomorrow and concludes on Sunday. The Irishman will be at the service of team leader Wout Poels (centre) for the race, though he could get his own chances should the Dutchman fall out of contention for the overall.
Nicolas Roche is back in action tomorrow at the Ruta del Sol in southern Spain as he continues to build his condition for next month’s Paris-Nice and the Volta A Catalunya.
The Irishman is part of a very strong Team Sky outfit aiming to retain the title they won last year with Chris Froome, though this year’s challenge will be spearheaded by the flying Wout Poels.
The lanky Dutchman won two stages and the overall at the Volta A Communicat Valenciana recently and will toe the line tomorrow as one of the big favourites, though a host of others carry that same tag.
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Roche is playing catch-up after a bizarre winter which saw him sidelined from full training because of two spider bites either side of the New Year.
Still, he’s on the right track and he showed signs in Valencia that his legs are coming and his role there was much of the unseen work of a domestique for Poels who held the race lead from the opening stage.
Ruta del Sol is a harder race, however, and with a start-list that includes Rafal Majka (Tinkoff), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) and Wilco Keldermann (LottoNL-Jumbo) it should be a close-run thing right up until Sunday’s concluding stage.
The race has four road stages and a time-trial, starting tomorrow in the town of Almonaster la Real in North West Andalucia.
A bunch sprint is the expected outcome as there are ‘just’ three category three climbs to negotiate.
Thursday should see a shake-up, however, as there’s a short climb towards the end of the 186-kilometre run to Cordoba.
Limerick's Stephen Clancy continues his journey with the Novo Nordisk team in Portugal.
Stage three is another lumpy one and features three cat. two climbs and a cat. three so further splits should start to appear.
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Stage four is a 21-kilometre race against the clock on a flat circuit before the queen stage on the final day.
This is a cracker of a stage and should see one hell of a GC battle take place.
The 164-kilometre stage from San Roque to Estepona has a category one climb after 60 kilometres, a category three after 76 kilometres as well as two more category two ascents en route to the category one hilltop finish.
It’s a route that’ll suit a strong climber who can go well against the clock and if Poels has retained his form or even improved since Valencia he is the man to beat.
Also in action on the Iberian Peninsula tomorrow is Stephen Clancy who starts the Volta Ao Algarve in Portugal tomorrow.
The Novo-Nordisk man is part of an eight-man line-up for the race which finishes on Sunday after four road stages and a time-trial.
The start-list is pretty star-studded and features the likes of Team Sky, Astana, Etixx-QuickStep and Dimension Data, though the Limerick man should be buoyed by an excellent showing in the Dubai Tour recently.
However, where that race in the Gulf was fast and flat, it’ll be a markedly different affair this time, with climbs being very much part of the parcours.
There are two hilltop finishes on Thursday and Saturday as well as a time-trial on Friday.
Saturday is pan-flat, though the stage is a leg-sapping 194 kilometres.
Sunday is where the race is likely to be won as it features four climbs, finishing on the category two slope to Alto de Malhao.
Team Sky line-up for Ruta del Sol (17th-21st): Ruta del Sol: Vasil Kiryienka, Christian Knees, Gianni Moscon, Mikel Nieve, Wout Poels, Nicolas Roche, Ben Swift.
Team Novo Nordisk line-up for Volta Ao Algarve (17th-21st): Stephen Clancy, Joonas Henttala, Corentin Cherhal, David Lozano, Javier Megias, Andrea Peron, Charles Planet, Martijn Verschoor.
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