Nicolas Roche has outlined his early-season race programme to us here, with Paris-Nice and Catalunya the two major ones. The Irishman hasn't been able to train as hard as he'd have liked recently, but is confident of being ready for duty when the call comes.
By Brian Canty
Nicolas Roche has outlined his early season race programme and it looks something similar to what he did 12 months ago, with Paris-Nice and the Volta A Catalunya the two big ones before Easter.
The 31 year-old will start in Majorca with a trio of 1.1-ranked races on Thursday week, starting with the Trofeo Felanitx and followed a day later by the Trofeo Pollenca-Port de Andratx.
The third of the three one-day events on consecutive days is the one he’s least likely to do, that being the Troefeo Serra de Traumuntana.
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Roche is still suffering from the effects of a spider bite this side of the New Year, having being bitten in a separate incident in Australia back in November.
“I’m still not 100% and still on anti-biotics as I had developed a bacteria so that’s why it’s been so nasty,” he told stickybottle.
“I’ve had four weeks of treatment to help fight that and I’ve still two to go, but hopefully I’ll be fine by the end of February.
“At the moment the team have adapted my training; I’m still doing the rides, just not at 100%.”
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After Majorca - and assuming he comes out of the races in good shape, he’ll travel to the Spanish mainland to tackle the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (2.1).
The five-day stage race makes a return to the calendar after folding in 2008.
The reinstated event runs from February 3rd to 7th and gets underway with a 17km individual time trial, though it's unclear what Roche's roles will be here.
Following that, Roche will head east for the five-day Vuelta A Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol (February 17th-21st), a 2.1-ranked race he helped Chris Froome win last year.
Then come the first of the season’s WorldTour races for Roche, the week-long Paris Nice which gets underway on March 6th.
Last year he shepherded Richie Porte in the mountains as the Tasmanian took the title, but as he’s now with BMC Racing Team it could offer Roche his first chance of going for his own results.
However, Geraint Thomas finished sixth overall in 2015, so the focus could well be on him instead, or indeed Chris Froome should he break with tradition and ride it.
Roche will then tackle the Volta A Catalunya, a race also won by Porte last year.
That gets underway on Monday March 21st and finishes in Barcelona the following Sunday.
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