Nicolas Roche has enjoyed a strong start to his time with Saxo-Tinkoff at the Tour of the Mediterranean
Ireland’s Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) has ended his first stage race assignment of 2013 with 5th overall at the Tour of the Mediterranean in France.
While a late uphill charge to the line today, Sunday, did upset the head of the overall standings and resulted in a new man pulling on the final yellow jersey, Roche did not benefit from that movement. He instead stayed in 5th on the final classification, exactly where he had started this morning.
A 16-man group pulled away today on the 192km run into Grasse and made up the main escape of the day but they never gained much more than two minutes.
On the final climb of the day the breakaway split, but the strongest men back in what remained of the peloton bided their time until the lumpy run-in. They surged on the tough final kilometres and overhauled the breakaway.
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It was Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol) who emerged best to take the win after attacking to no avail up Mont Faron during yesterday’s finale. Francesco Reda (Androni) was second four seconds down, while Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was third at 13 seconds.
Swedish rider Thomas Lövkvist (IAM Cycling) had started the day third overall, just two seconds down on yellow jersey Maxime Monfort (Radioshack-Leopard) and one second back on Lars Boom (Blanco) in second.
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However, the Swede managed to distance both in the final push to the line today and sealed the overall win. He came home in seventh place, some 17 seconds down on the stage winner but it was enough to give him the overall victory.
Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r La Mondiale), winner of Saturday’s fourth stage, moved into second place tied on time with Lövkvist, while Francesco Reda (Androni) took the final step on the podium at 11 seconds down.
Overnight leader Monfort slipped into fourth overall, 16 seconds back while Boom lost a lot of time in the run in and fell completely out of contention.
Roche started today some 20 seconds down on Lövkvist, and because he finished on the same time as the Swede in what was effectively the first group on the road, he held that gap and stayed in 5th on the final overall standings.
“Our plan was to support Nicolas to go for the win today and (Evgeny) Petrov did a great effort in front of the field throughout the stage. That's the way of the game but I'm convinced that Nico will be confident, motivated and strong in next week's Haut Var,” said Team Saxo-Tinkoff director Dan Frost.
Dan Martin (Garmin Sharp) was the only other Irish rider in the race but his entire team did not start yesterday after their bikes were stolen from their team truck overnight.
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