When a race finishes on an unpaved road, you know it's going to be tough. Nicolas Roche did some heavy duty driving today towards setting up team leader Chris Froome for stage and overall victory in Spain.
Nicolas Roche has enjoyed his best day yet in Team Sky kit with an impressive show of strength that teed up his teammate Chris Froome for what is almost certain to be outright victory in the 2.1-ranked Vuelta A Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol.
Froome trailed overnight leader and yesterday’s stage winner Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) by 27 seconds starting today’s penultimate leg.
But thanks to the efforts of his team, the Kenyan-born British rider overhauled that deficit and now holds a one-second lead over the Spaniard.
Roche and his Sky team mates looked like they earned their corn today.
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The brutally hard journey from Maracena to the summit finish at Alto de Allanadas was always going to come down to that stinging five-kilometre final ramp, with Froome knowing he needed to beat Contador by 28 seconds to take the leader’s red jersey.
Hitting the base of the final climb, Roche was visible right at the head of a rapidly reducing front group.
And his strong tempo reeled in the five-man break, one of whom was Hugh Carthy (Caja Rural) who rode the Suir Valley Three-day in Ireland 18 months ago.
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The pace of Roche trimmed the leading group considerably, though with gradients of up to 20 per cent that was hardly surprising.
Froome’s other teammates, Peter Kennaugh and Mikel Nieve, also took up the reigns at various stages in the closing kilometres which appeared to shake Contador.
Alberto Contador had no answer when he was beat up by Team Sky in miserable conditions in Spain today.
And with two kilometres to go the rangy figure of Froome let fly, launching a vicious attack that immediately distanced his great rival.
Roche had tailed off by now and would eventually lose over three minutes - but his job was done.
He’ll be back on duty tomorrow for the concluding 170-kilometre final stage to Alhaurín de la Torre from Montilla.
But with just one category 3 climb 60 kilometres from the finish, only a disaster would see his team leader lose the race now.
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