Nicolas Roche believes he can win races with Team Sky and his early season schedule suggests he will be part of the Tour de France section of the squad.
By Brian Canty
Nicolas Roche will begin his season on February 18th at the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol five-day stage race.
It is the first time the Irishman will have ridden the race and it is likely he will play a support role for Chris Froome, who is also down to start for Team Sky.
The opening day is split into a morning road stage and a hilly evening time-trial of just over eight kilometres, so there are six stages over the five days.
Stages two, three and four will suit the climbers while the final stage is almost guaranteed to end in a bunch sprint.
Advertisement
Dan Martin is bound for a team training camp in Spain before starting his first races of 2015 in Majorca.
From there, Roche will do the week-long Paris Nice from March 8th-15th for what will be his first WorldTour-ranked race of the year.
He is no stranger to the event known as the 'Race to the Sun', having started it every year between 2009 and 2013, taking 10th overall in 2010.
After that he goes back to Spain (March (23rd-29th) for the week-long WorldTour Volta A Catalunya stage race from March 23rd to 29th.
He was fifth overall there back in 2010.
That will be a crucial part of his build-up to the one-day Ardennes Classic Fleche Wallone on April 22nd.
After that he will ride the Tour of Romandie, from April 28th to May 3rd, and the Criterium Du Dauphine, from June 7th to 14th.
Related News
Sam Bennett gets his campaign underway in Majorca in a series of races where he can definitely make an impression, and on a good day could take a win.
His programme thereafter is not set but the presence of the Dauphine in his early schedule suggests Roche will be in Team Sky’s Tour de France line-up.
Meanwhile, Sam Bennett (Bora Argon-18) gets his season underway at the end of this month in Majorca.
His German-registered team has not picked its line-up for a quartet of races between January 29th and February 1st.
However stickybottle understands the Irishman will be doing at least two of those events.
Fellow Irishman Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) will also be on the island for the races.
Will Philip Deignan finally the ride the Tour de France this year? We think so. But a ride in the Giro or Vuelta may mean he gets opportunities to take his own chances.
Some may suit Bennett with bunch finishes expected, while in others climbs that Bennett could get over that other sprinters may not also feature.
It means he will go into the events nursing hopes of a result even though they fall so early in the season.
However, Martin will have classics victory and Grand Tour stage and general classification success on his mind.
Both Martin and Bennett will touch down in Majorca next week for respective team training camps.
We will bring you news of Philip Deignan's race schedule when we have it.
Topics
