Nicolas Roche earned himself plenty of new fans during last year’s Tour de France, riding aggressively in his debut in the race and netting stage placings of second, fourth, eighth, eighth and tenth on stages. His white and green Irish road race champion’s kit was instantly identifiable in the peloton, as was his never say die attitude en route to a solid 23rd place overall.
The prospects of him making the Ag2r La Mondiale Tour squad again had a big boost yesterday when he placed fourth in the GP Canton d’Argovie in Switzerland. He sprinted in as part of a six man group, crossing the line behind the winner Kristof Vandewalle (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Emanuele Sella (CarmioOro-NGC) and Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo Test Team).
It was his first race back after being sidelined from racing on April 30th. He had been riding strongly in the Tour de Romandie, netting third and ninth on stages, but tore a hamstring during the time trial due to an incorrect bike setup.
That forced him to take a complete two and a half week break from the bike, hardly ideal for his buildup towards July. However he worked hard during that period, swimming for an hour most days and also using the time to lose some weight by eating carefully.
Yesterday’s event was his first in over a month, and so going so close to the win was a big surprise to him.
“The race was very hard, but I had good legs,” a satisfied Roche said yesterday evening. “I was a bit short in the sprint…we were all one by one [in crossing the line].”
He rode well throughout the 1.HC-ranked race, making it into the day’s crucial break of nineteen riders with 30 kilometres left. This group further splintered closer to the end, and Roche got clear with five others.
His Ag2r La Mondiale team management are certain to be impressed with his showing after that enforced break. Prior to the race, his father Stephen Roche said that he thought the time off would do him some good. “Nicolas has been going well since the start of the year and I think he might have actually been a little stale just before he got injured,” he told Velonation. “I think this break will end up being the best thing possible for him, as he had a chance to ease back and let his body recover. He’s also now raring to go, mentally.”
However even he probably didn’t expect such a quick return to form.
Roche junior is now due to head back to his base in Italy for a few days, then will ride the Tour de Suisse. He’ll look for another good showing there to seal his place on the Ag2r La Mondiale team for the Tour, where he will have the ambition of taking a stage win and a good overall placing.