Nicolas Roche drags the peloton along during stage five of Paris Nice this afternoon. The Irishman has been riding a textbook race so far this week in service of team leader Geraint Thomas.
By Brian Canty
Nicolas Roche has said he’s bracing himself for a battle royal as Paris Nice heads into the final two stages and the top of the General Classification heavily congested.
His Team Sky teammate Geraint Thomas is sixth overall at 23 seconds but with two hellishly hard days in the mountains to come, anything can happen.
Australian Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) leads by six seconds from today’s stage winner Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) with Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin) third at 18 seconds.
Tomorrow sees the riders tackle a 177-kilometre leg from Nice to La Madone d’Utelle where three category three climbs in the first half of the race are followed by two more in the latter as well as two category one monsters.
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There’s a summit finish and bonus seconds on the line so it’s reasonable to assume that whoever wins the stage will most likely take the jersey.
“Tomorrow is indisputably the queen stage,” said Roche tonight.
“Most roads we’ll travel on over the next two days are my training roads so I know them well.
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“But it also means I know how challenging they’ll be; there are two very, very hard days to come.”
The Irishman has been playing a blinder so far in service of Thomas who should be there or thereabouts when it matters.
The same too can be said for Roche.
“I’m still doing a lot of work and still having a hard time on the climbs but I’m feeling powerful on the flat.
“Keeping Geraint in the best possible position is my job and I’m doing that as much as I can.”
Matthews is in fine form and is bullish about holding the jersey.
“We know it will all be decided in the next two stages and I’m expecting some fireworks,” he said.
“But I’m still the leader and I confirmed today that it’s possible to stay that way to the end.”
Stage 5, Salon-de-Provence (198k)
1 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana 5:00:26
2 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha @21secs
3 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge @s/t
4 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida @s/t
5 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo @s/t
6 Pieter Serry (Bel) Etixx-Quick Step @s/t
7 Vicente Reynes (Esp) IAM Cycling @s/t
8 Leonardo Duque (Col) Delko Marseille Provence KTM @s/t
9 Olivier Naesen (Bel) IAM Cycling @s/t
10 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) Cofidis @s/t
83 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky @50secs
143 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Dimension Data @17:06
General Classification
1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 19:24:58
2 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana @6secs
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin @18secs
4 Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale @23secs
5 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Movistar @s/t
6 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky @s/t
7 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana @28secs
8 Dries Devenyns (Bel) IAM Cycling @29secs
9 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff @31secs
10 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC @s/t
57 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky @5:25
149 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Dimension Data @32:30
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