Nicolas Roche has been named in the Team DSM line-up for the upcoming Tour of Britain, with the race due to get underway in Cornwall on Sunday.
The team will ride for Dutchman Nils Eekhoff during the sprint stages. The 23-year-old has some unhappy memories of racing in Britain as he was disqualified, for drafting, after crossing the line 1st at the U23 Worlds in Yorkshire in 2019.
There is sufficient climbing on several Tour of Britain stages to force splits and the British Continental teams in particular are always keen to get up the road while racing at home. That mix of terrain, combined with the fact there are six-man teams in the race, will make it hard to control.
Also in the Team DSM line-up with Roche and Eekhoff for the week ahead are Romain Combaud, Mark Donovan, Max Kanter and Tim Naberman.
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The last time Roche raced in the UK he was 6th overall in the Tour of Britain, in 2016, having finished 2nd in the Tour de Yorkshire earlier that year. After missing the Vuelta this year, due to opting to ride the Olympics for Ireland, he would love a result in the coming week.
"This year's parcours has a nice mix of stages, with several sprint opportunities for the fast men and some real tough days for the all-rounders and climbers,” said Team DSM coach, Phil West, of the Tour of Britain.
“This combination along with the TTT on stage 3 sets the
stage for some great racing. We'll take on the race each day and look for day
results on the sprint stages with Nils, but we will also make the most of our
opportunities for the other stages too.
“With six man teams for this race we can anticipate some
open and unpredictable racing and we look forward to being in action each
day."
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