Nicolas Roche enjoys his moment on stage in Belfast last night; an experience he said left him speechless (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Like his compatriots Philip Deignan and Dan Martin, Tinkoff-Saxo leader Nicolas Roche was blown away by the welcome he received at the Giro team presentation yesterday evening.
Like the other two, Roche was last of his team onto the stage and was able to soak in the atmosphere as he rode slowly up the ramp in front of an appreciative crowd.
“I’m speechless,” he said of the welcome afterwards.
“I knew from racing at the Tour and seeing the Irish fans who travel to the races in Europe that when we got here to Ireland it would be pretty special. But that was fantastic and I’d like to thank everyone who came out for such a great reception.”
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While Roche is hoping for a good result in tomorrow’s team time trial opener, he says he is unsure how the race will pan out over the coming weeks.
“Obviously we will be trying our very best in the team time trial. The dream scenario for all three of us Irish riders would be to win the stage and get the pink jersey, but at the moment it’s just a dream.
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"Because of the traffic in Belfast we haven’t actually been able to check out the route for the team time trial but it’s been the same for everyone and we will all be on the road in the morning as soon as it closes to check it out.
"It’s going to take a couple of days to get into it. I feel I’ve done a lot of work at altitude camp to get ready for the Giro but after Romandie I was pretty tired and a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to get some sort of result before starting here.
"I think the three of us (Roche, Deignan and Martin) have been pretty clear that we won’t be doing anything stupid over the next three days. The third week of this race is going to be so hard that any energy you waste now is energy you will be missing in the third week.
"As I’ve said before, riding the Giro is a new adventure for me this year. I know I’m usually able to hit form around August for the Vuelta but it's sort of unprecedented for me to try to be in top form so early in the year.
"I’m here to ride for a decent place overall though and will be disappointed if I’m not in the top 10 at the end of the three weeks."
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