Nicolas Roche has expressed his disappointment at what he described as "trolls" who made disparaging comments about his riding the inaugural UCI World Gravel Championships in Italy last month.
The former World Tour pro rider, double Vuelta stage winner and four-time Olympian for Ireland, said he had been back in Ireland last weekend and picked up on some of the comments made, which he believed were disrespectful.
"After spending the weekend in Ireland, some comments came to my ears regarding the gravel worlds," he said. "I was disappointed by those trolls who disrespected me.
"For information I fully paid for my expenses and those of my brother and was supported by my sponsors with staff and equipment. (It) didn’t cost Cycling Ireland a penny.
"I have absolutely nothing to do with the fed not sending a team to road worlds and definitely didn’t take any of the feds' racing budget for my gravel racing at the worlds. I got a jersey to race. I believe I can have that, no?"
Advertisement
Roche - along with his brother Alexis and Emma Porter - represented Ireland at the gravel Worlds after all three had ridden the qualifying events and secured enough points to start the world title events.
Related News
Their participation in the elite men's and women's races was confirmed not long after Cycling Ireland announced its decision not to send any Irish teams to the World Road Championships in Wollongong, Australia.
Some people commenting on social media - though numbers were small - questioned why a team was being sent to the gravel Worlds while no riders were selected for the road Worlds. When it later emerged no Irish team was being sent to the cyclocross Europeans, some of the same comments resurfaced.
However, the comments were relatively few in number and clearly came from people frustrated at the road Worlds decision and who were remarking on the gravel Worlds without understanding the background of the team.
