Nicolas Roche will return to racing towards the end of next month having been forced into a much longer than usual winter break.
He will get his season underway at the Tour Cycliste International du Var et des Alpes Maritimes in France, formerly Tour du Haut Var, from February 21st to 23rd.
After that he goes on to take on the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in Spain from March 23rd to 29th.
That will be followed by Itzulia Basque Country from April 6th to 11th, after which he will switch to classics mode.
The Team Sunweb rider has not pinned on a number since
his Vuelta stage 6 crash last August.
That fall, which came just one day after he relinquished
the race leader’s jersey, forced him out of the race and ended his season.
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It meant he missed the remainder of the Vuelta as well as
the TT and road race at the World Championships in Yorkshire, not to mention
the late season race programme.
During the previous three seasons Roche continued to race
until almost the end of October, meaning shorter winter breaks.
However, this time around his off-season has been much longer than normal; a break that also necessitated recovery time for a fractured kneecap after his fall.
He was back on the open road beginning to train again
about six weeks after his fall and hopefully his return to racing goes without
a hitch.
Roche is now starting a new two-year contract with Team
Sunweb. The WorldTour squad is in something of a transitionary period after the
departure of Tom Dumoulin to Jumbo-Visma.
However, Dumoulin’s departure may see Roche getting more chances to aim for his own results as the team was very much all-in for Dumoulin in recent years.
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