Nicolas Roche: It feels amazing to be leading Vuelta again | Sticky Bottle

*Nicolas Roche is back on top in Spain. Six years after last leading the Vuelta, the Irish cyclist is back in the iconic Grand Tour leader's jersey*

Nicolas Roche may nearing the end of his 16th year in the pro game, but the he's pulled one of the most glorious days of his career out of the bag and looks in his best form for years.

The 35-year-old Team Sunweb rider is leading the Vuelta after riding a fantastic finale on stage 2 of the race into Calpe today.

When a quality breakaway containing four of the overall favourites pulled clear on the final climb, as the field blew to pieces, Roche was in it and was pushing on.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) then attacked the six-man group some 3km from the finish and hung on by five seconds to win the stage, and collect a 10 second bonus.

Behind the Colombian, Roche put Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) on the front of the group and let the Slovenia chase down Quintana.

And then just before the line Roche unleashed a great finishing kick to take 2nd place; closing the gap to Quintana to five seconds and scooping a six-second bonus.

*Nairo Quintana takes a fantastic stage win and has underlined his challenge for the overall title this year*

Roche leads in three of the men who should be in the general classification hunt, hopeful with the Irishman; Roglic, Uran and Aru. This 2nd place by Roche secured him a vital time bonus ensuring Quintana didn't take the race lead by virtue of his 10-second bonus for winning the stage

The stage result meant Roche took the race lead by two seconds from Quintana; the second time he has led a Grand Tour after a day in red at Vuelta 2013.

Aside from enjoying such a big result, the Irishman climbed with the best today, was one of the strongest in the attacking close to the finish and still beat those he was with at the finish.

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While it is early days yet, he looks in the kind of physical shape to ride for a general classification result.

However, after taking the race lead he said he was not going to get carried away and was instead intent on enjoying the moment and his day in the leader's jersey tomorrow.

“It’s an amazing feeling. To be back in the leader’s jersey at a Grand Tour is incredible; I’m speechless,” he said.

“I thought this morning that a group of around 30 to 40 riders would arrive at the line together and fight for the win. But it turned out to be an even harder day."

*The Irish flags were waving in Calpe after Roche claimed the race lead*

Lopez was leader today but he missed the six-man group that went clear over the final climb and was left to do much of the chasing in the group that finished 37 seconds down. The time loss was by no means fatal for his overall hopes, but his team looked very flakey

Nicolas Roche added local knowledge in the Calpe area helped him in the finale today.

“I know these roads off by heart. We spend five weeks of the year here. I knew if we attacked on the run in to Calpe then people would look at each other.

“On the radio we were thinking about the stage, knowing that if I took the stage win I would be in red too.

“We tried to play it smart going into the finish but Quintana went at the perfect time and I didn’t want to drag everyone with me if I went after him.

“To take the leader’s jersey is incredible; I’m going to enjoy tonight and tomorrow on the bike.”