Nicolas Roche leads the field into Paris on the final stage of the Tour de France on Sunday (Photo: Sirotti)
Nicolas Roche has spoken about how intense the Tour de France was in terms of protecting the yellow jersey and the responsibility that goes with it.
The Sky road captain is this week celebrating being part of a Tour winning team for the first time in his career but scoffed the notion they crushed the race by being too strong.
“We spent a lot of energy from day one and that was the plan and I think it worked to perfection,” he said.
“It was to our advantage after 10 days of racing and we did really well in the Pyrenees.
“(It was) a bit tougher in the Alps but at the end of the day, Chris (Froome) did a fantastic job and the whole team was there behind him.
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“We’ve been through some tough moments but it’s a fantastic feeling,” he added.
“A lot of people were saying Sky were crushing the race but it wasn’t true, we rode quite smartly,” he continued.
“The first day in the Pyrenees, Movistar put the hammer down, the next day it was Tinkoff. The third day it was Tinkoff again and (then) Giant and Lotto who rode really hard.
“Every day we tried to manage ourselves as well as possible and I think the key to our success was sharing the workload amongst ourselves.”
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He said while Wout Poels “had some bad days” he had ridden excellently in the last mountain stages, especially on the penultimate stage to Alpe d’Huez when he assisted Froome in just about holding off the advances of Nairo Quintana of Movistar.
“The same with Richie (Porte); he was a bit sick in the middle of the Tour but we gave him some time to recover and he was exceptional again.
“It’s all about taking care of each other and that’s what makes a really solid team.”
The team came under intense pressure during the race, not just from inside the peloton but also from the roadside.
“It is a lot of stress and responsibility,” said Roche.
“When you’re going down those descents at 80kph and you’ve got the yellow jersey on your wheel, it’s like ‘if I miss a turn I could ruin the Tour’ or when you grab a musette in the feedzone you’re wondering ‘where’s Froome?’. It’s all these small little details that add up.
“Everyone has done such a great job, from riding on the flat with Luke (Rowe) and (Ian) Stannard controlling the breaks to us riding in the mountains and Chris finishing it off, it’s been very tough, very intense but a great Tour.”
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