Nicolas Roche has shown great form of late. And though his season began way back on February 1st he is now set to continue until the last week in October. Above, on his way to 12th in the TT at the World Championships in Bergen.

Nicolas Roche set for Tour of Guangxi in China

Having shown excellent form of late, Nicolas Roche is to extend his season to a full nine months with one last outing.

This time the Irish rider is part of the BMC Racing team for the inaugural Tour of Guangxi. The event in China is the final WorldTour race of the year.

It begins on Thursday, October 19th and includes six stages, the longest of which is 212km. Roche began racing on February 1st at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.

Therefore, by the time his Chinese outing ends, his season will be just a few days short of nine months.

Roche is part of a solid line-up and given his form the team is looking to him, and Ben Hermans, for the general classification.

Related News

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains

Video - Ireland's Meehan climbs with best on brutal Alpine terrain

The Irishman finished in 4^th place at Giro dell’Emilia two weeks ago. And at Il Lombardia last weekend he was 12th.

Roche’s sports director Marco Pinotti said he believed the Irishman could continue his form.

“For the general classification at the Tour of Guangxi, we have both Ben Hermans and Nicolas Roche,” he said.

“Both riders showed their good condition recently at Il Lombardia. And they can take advantage of their current form and end their seasons well.

“All of our riders will have the possibility to step up and take any opportunities that present themselves.

“At the end of the season, riders are always motivated for a good result to end their year well.

“And with this being the inaugural edition of the Tour of Guangxi, I think all of our riders will be looking for a good result.

“Most of the stages seem to be favour fast riders. And then the uphill finish on stage 4 is good for the punchers and climbers.

“As usual, it will be the riders who make the race and given we have never raced on the parcours before, any stage could have an unexpected outcome.”

As well as Roche and Hermans the team for China includes Silvan Dillier, Floris Gerts, Daniel Oss, Joey Rosskopf and Manuel Senni.