Having already shown some very good form this year for BMC, Nicolas Roche is building towards the Giro d'Italia. He will assume leadership duties there, a fact that will give him the best chance possible to perform.
Ireland's Nicolas Roche for BMC leader role at Giro d'Italia
Nicolas Roche is set to ride the Giro d’Italia as team leader of BMC Racing. He will share the role with Australian Rohan Dennis.
The Irish rider already has Grand Tour stage wins to his name - at the Vuelta in 2013 and 2015. Furthermore, he led the Vuelta in 2013 for a day and held most of the jerseys that year.
This year at the Giro he will mainly target a top 10 finish in the general classification.
And while he normally needs plenty of racing to get into top shape, there are signs his form is very good already this year.
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He and his team went into the Tour of Oman seeking a stage win for Greg Van Avermaet, which they achieved on the third stage.
However, when the race split on stage 4 Nicolas Roche made the front group of just over 20 riders. And the following day he climbed up Green Mountain to 9th on the stage.
He would have done better but for trying to bridge to the four leaders solo with about 2km to go.
Roche has said he is very happy with his form for this time of year, adding it is better now than 12 months ago.
And he believes he's on track for the bigger races ahead; which include the Giro.
Hopefully that means he can also be in the shake-up to add another Grand Tour stage win to his palmares.
His sharing team leadership means he will not only get to ride for himself. He will also enjoy protected rider status in the race which begins in Israel on May 4th.
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