Nicolas Roche digging deep to preserve fourth overall on stage 10 of the Vuelta today. The Team Sky man hit the deck at a roundabout and tore himself up pretty badly, but lives to fight another day.
By Brian Canty
Nicolas Roche has produced a performance borne out of sheer resolve to preserve his fourth place overall at the Vuelta A Espana.
The Team Sky man took a heavy fall with less than 50 kilometres of today’s 10th stage to go but got back on his bike and with the help of his team mates began to work his way back to the bunch.
Roche’s elbow looked particularly badly damaged and he had to drop back to the race doctor’s car to receive some medical treatment.
The crash came at a time when the pace was really on and it looked bad for Roche at the time.
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No sooner was he back chasing that he required a bike change and it was then that the fireworks at the head of the race really kicked off, threatening his chances of getting back on level terms.
He never panicked though and used the cars expertly, keen to get back on before the category two climb with 16 kilometres to go.
Roche was already sporting some bandaging at the sign on this morning following his crash on stage 9 yesterday.
Credit to his teammates Ian Boswell, Sergio Henao and Puccio for doing an expert job getting him back into the peloton, where he stayed for the remainder of the race.
It was his second crash in two days, having been among the fallers in a large pile-up on Sunday's stage 9.
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The 146 kilometre journey from Valencia to Castellon looked a lot more straight forward on paper than the racing that played out on the road.
And though a big bunch sprint was forecast, only 58 riders came to the line to contest the stage honours.
The main favourites were all in there, with Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin) retaining the race leader’s red jersey.
Roche crossed the line in 26th in the same time as stage winner Kristian Sbaragli (MTN-Qhubeka) who edged out John Degenkolb (Giant Alpecin) and JJ Rojas (Movistar).
Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) is still second overall at 57 seconds with Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEDGE) two seconds back in 3rd.
Roche is 1:07 down and will be glad to have reached tomorrow’s rest day so high up and looking very good.
Stage 10: Valencia – Castellon (146.6km)
1. Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) MTN-Qhubeka, in 3-12-43
2. John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin
3. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Esp) Movistar
4. Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto-Soudal
5. Jose Goncalves (Por) Caja-Rural
6. Matteo Montaguti (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale
7. Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-GreenEdge
8. Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge
9. Pieter Serry (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step
10. Valerio Conti (Ita) Lampre-Merida
39. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky,all same time
General Classification
1. Tom Dumoulin (Ned), Giant-Alpecin, in 38-34-56
2. Joaquim Rodriguez (Esp), Katusha at 57s
3. Esteban Chaves (Col), Orica-GreenEdge at 59s
4. Nicolas Roche (Irl), Team Sky at 1-07
5. Alejandro Valverde (Esp), Movistar at 1-09
6. Fabio Aru (Ita), Astana at 1-13
7. Nairo Quintana (Col), Movistar at 1-17
8. Chris Froome (GBr), Team Sky at 1-18
9. Rafal Majka (Pol), Tinkoff-Saxo at 1-47
10. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita), Ag2r-La Mondiale at 1-52
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