Nicolas Roche has admitted crashing on successive days last week has really taken a toll on him, particularly on the climbs where he said it'll be difficult to contest a stage win. But having fallen out of general classification contention he believes there are chances for him before the race finishes next Sunday.
By Brian Canty
Nicolas Roche has revealed the extent to which successive crashes have affected his form at the Vuelta A Espana this past week.
The Irishman was flying high in fourth place before last Wednesday’s stage in Andorra but it was there where his chances of a top GC placing perished.
Roche lost 14 minutes on the way to the summit finish at Cortals d’Encamp, the effects of the crashes before the rest day on Tuesday clearly taking a heavy toll on him.
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But he showed real resilience to make it into Friday’s break and finish third on the stage, equaling his highest placing of stage 2.
“I’m still struggling on the climbs,” a bruised Roche told stickybottle last night.
“On Friday I tried to make the most of the day because with a flat finish there was a chance of the break arriving.
“It was difficult for Nelson Oliveira (stage winner) to stay away with that wind and that many riders chasing behind.
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“Initially the wind was favourable but fair play to him. We did a lot of attacking on the climb and there were four or five of us who were away for quite a bit.
“We were caught just before the descent. He went alone and opened up the gap. He was extremely strong as there were attacks for a long time.
“After putting in that effort on the climb eventually I thought I'd concentrate on sitting back in case everything came back together.
“At the finish Sergio (Henao) gave me a hand heading into the finish. I went early in the sprint and it worked out all right."
Today is another really difficult stage that features a summit finish and Roche admitted he’s going to try and see what he can do, though accepted winning on a climb might be beyond him.
“The next two days are going to be hard," Roche said.
“Hopefully after Tuesday’s rest day and the time-trial (on Wednesday) in the last three days before Sunday I can catch another break, or even today or tomorrow.
“But if there’s a mountain finish I’ve no real chance of victory, though we’ll see how it goes. At the moment I’m riding for survival a bit.”
