Nicolas Roche confirms career best 5th overall after magnificent three weeks at Vuelta

Nicolas Roche held every jersey in the Vuelta, finished 5th overall and took a stage win; far and away the best ride of his career and hopefully a sign of plenty more still to come.

By Gavin McLoughlin

Nicolas Roche has achieved his best-ever Grand Tour placing by finishing fifth overall at the Vuelta a Espana.

The Irishman finished safely alongside his general classification rivals as the race drew to a close with a largely ceremonial day for the sprinters in Madrid today, Sunday.

It is the best Irish overall result at a Grand Tour since Seán Kelly won the Vuelta of 1988.

The Saxo-Tinkoff leader was a revelation at this race, taking a splendid victory atop the first-category Alto do Monte da Groba on stage 2 and becoming the first Irishman to lead a Grand Tour for 25 years when he rode away from then-leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) on stage 8.

Consistently he was one of the most aggressive riders in the field, and at various times the Irishman held the lead in the points, mountains and combined classifications. Including his stage win, he claimed ten individual top-ten stage placings.

Roche’s next challenge will be to recover his best legs ahead of the World Championships in Tuscany. He will represent Ireland in the Elite Men’s Individual Time-Trial on September 25^th and in the Elite Men’s Road Race on September 29^th.

The parcours for the Road Race is one of the most arduous in the history of the World Championships, quite similar in style to races like Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The victory looks likely to be contested by a small group of classics specialists and better climbers, and with the way he has ridden at this Vuelta Roche should be able to hang around long enough to strike out for glory in the critical stages of the race.

The same applies to the Tour of Lombardy which Roche is scheduled to ride on October 6^th. After his cousin Dan Martin triumphed at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, you can be sure that Roche would love to claim the second Irish Monument of 2013.

Today’s leg began in a relaxed fashion as the riders celebrated their completion of what has been one of the most difficult three-week tours in recent memory. When the riders reached the finishing circuit in Madrid, Francisco Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) was the first to attack.

Soon he was joined by Alessandro Vanotti of Astana, but the duo was eventually caught with less than 5 kilometres remaining. A bunch gallop loomed and in the final straight it would be Michael Matthews of Orica-Green Edge who prevailed, the Australian comfortably beating Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) to the win.

Roche crossed the line three seconds later in the same group as race winner Chris Horner (Radioshack-Leopard). The American will be 42 on October 23^rd and has defied the laws of nature to become the oldest winner of a Grand Tour in history, shattering the record of Firmin Lambot, who won the 1922 Tour de France aged 36.

@gavmcloughlin