Nicolas Roche gets Irish participation at World Champs underway with 9th in team test

Nicolas Roche will be the busiest Irish rider at these World Championships, taking in the team time trial today, the individual test on Wednesday and the road race next Sunday. He's seen here leading his team in today's race (Photo: Sean Rowe)

By Gavin McLoughlin

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche began his World Championships week by finishing in ninth place as part of the Saxo-Tinkoff squad in the men’s team time-trial today, Sunday.

Roche joined Manuele Boaro, Mads Christensen, Michael Morkov, Nicki Sorensen and Matteo Tosatto in the Danish outfit’s line-up, and the sextet completed the essentially flat 57.2-kilometre course in a time of 1:06:31.

With fewer riders per squad than is the case in Grand Tours, the rules dictate that the time of the fourth man across the line is awarded to the team.

Roche was one of the four Saxo men that made it to the finish together, but his team never looked like competing for a win that ultimately would go to defending champions Omega Pharma-Quick Step.

However, it was a useful sharpening exercise for Roche as he looks to compete for victory in the elite men’s road race next Sunday.

The Irishman was an excellent fifth overall at the Vuelta a Espana, and a more revealing insight into his current condition will come when he represents his country in the elite men’s individual time-trial on Wednesday in Florence.

Today, the Omega Pharma squad was spearheaded by individual world time-trial champion Tony Martin, and the German’s awesome power made all the difference as in a veritable nail-biter they managed to prevail over Orica-Green Edge by a single second.

Cannondale were the early surprise package, out-performing a strong-looking Garmin-Sharp contingent that ultimately showed poorly.

However, when the muscular Sky and Radioshack-Leopard line-ups took to the course, GPS time-checks showed that Cannondale’s time was on course to be smashed.

Sky were initially the strongest of the big contenders, but then the momentum started to swing towards first Omega Pharma-Quick Step and then Orica-Green Edge.

But when Jens Mouris gots dropped, the Australian squad fell behind in the numbers game and inexorably the pendulum started to swing back in favour of their rivals.

It didn’t look like it would be quite so close, but in the end Omega Pharma were fortunate to get the job done by a hair’s breadth, crossing the line 0.88 seconds ahead of their rivals.

Martin’s great rival Fabian Cancellara was down in fifth with Radioshack-Leopard, and the German will hope to best the Swiss again when defending the individual time-trial title on Wednesday.