Yesterday was another excellent day for the Irishman Nicolas Roche, who moved from sixth back to fifth overall with an aggressive display to the summit finish of Alto de Cotobello.
The Ag2r La Mondiale rider showed a good mixture of tactics and strength, waiting until one and a half kilometres to go and then putting in a surge for the line. The effort saw him finish close to some of the key names of the race such as Ezequiel Mosquera and David Garcia (both Xacobeo Galicia) and six seconds ahead of Carlos Sastre (Cervélo Test Team). Roche took 15 seconds out of race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo), who cracked inside the final kilometres.
Roche did concede 38 seconds to Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank), who moved above him in the general classification. However the 26 year old gained a substantial two minutes 55 seconds on Peter Velits (HTC Columbia) and Xavier Tondo (Cervélo Test Team), jumping over them in the GC and slotting into fifth place. With just two key stages to go, he is looking on course to take his best-ever results in a Grand Tour, and the best Irish result over three weeks since Sean Kelly won the 1988 Vuelta a España.
VeloNation caught up with Roche after the stage, getting his thoughts about a strong day for him, and also on what is a race that has gone better than even he expected.
-----
VeloNation: Nicolas, congratulations on your performance today…we presume you are happy with how things turned out?
Nicolas Roche: There have been two days when I was happy – when I was fifth on Saturday’s mountain stage [to Peña Cabarga], and then today. I have been pleased with the Vuelta in general, but extra happy today and two days ago.
I came to the Vuelta thinking that I wanted to try to attack, take a few risks as well. I could have completely blown with a kilometre to go today, but I’m glad I went for it…I am happy. As I said before, when I came here I wanted to ride more aggressively and attack a bit.
I have done it a few times already and then today I was able to do it on the hills. I was hoping I could do it on one stage or another, but I didn’t have the legs on the other days. Today I saw the opening and with a kilometre and a half to go, I said I’d just give it a chance. I’d nothing to lose, and it worked out, so I am pretty happy.
VN: You were 15th in the Tour de France. Do you consider your form to be better here?
NR: It is higher than in the Tour. The race is very different in that respect, so I think it is difficult to compare. But I do think my form is better, I am skinner than at the Tour and I have more experience again – the Tour was my first time riding… Okay, I was 13th in the Vuelta two years ago, but I was in a breakaway and I wasn’t so much of a threat as I am now.
VN: Also, that 13th place in the Vuelta was built on getting into a long break and gaining some the time then….
NR: Exactly, it was a different thing altogether. Now I am fighting every day for splits of seconds. When I did the Vuelta a couple of years, it was minutes.
VN: You opened a gap over Tondo and Velits today. Are you confident in your chances of keeping fifth?
NR: Well, the thing about this Vuelta is that there are still two stages….you have that 46 kilometre time trial so you can gain time or easily lose two minutes to some of the leaders. It is going to be a tough time trial, it is still very tight – it is not like I have five minutes on the guy behind me.
In the Tour, Vinokourov was one minute 30 behind me going into the last time trial, but behind him there was already three minutes to the next riders. Now it is tighter - Schleck is just 40 seconds in front. It could be a big, big goal for me in the time trial to try to get as close as possible to Frank, and to get as far as possible away from Tondo or Velits.
They had bad days today, I had a day that wasn’t as good as I wanted in Andorra. This is the thing about the Grand Tours and the mountains - one day you can have a bad day. The hardest mountain stage is yet to come; it is 22 kilometres, that last climb to the finish on Saturday. So 22 kilometres is not five seconds or ten seconds…if you blow the engine there, it is five minutes.
VN: There are just those two key days left, Wednesday’s time trial and Saturday…the rest look like probable bunch sprints or small breaks….
NR: Yes, one will be a bunch sprint and then that 240 kilometre stage could be a breakaway. I will defend my position if it is fifth, sixth, fourth or whatever. The team is also ready to defend my position on any of the days that are left, if there is a breakaway that goes too far.
Today, Blel (Kadri) rode in that respect as well. We didn’t want Sanchez to be close to me in case something happens. Blel got up the front and rode tempo. He said, ‘I cant help you on the climb, I want to feel useful. I said ‘alright, maybe ride…if you ride strong it might be better for me. Keep the rhythm high and there will be less fighting for position and everything.’ He did a great job there and it worked out perfectly.
VN: You mentioned that you are skinnier than in the Tour. What are you?
NR: I am a kilo lighter. My body fat is less…I am skinnier. The weight changes a bit, but the average is less. I arrived here at the Vuelta at the same weight but skinnier, but now I am less than that weight and skinner again, so I am happy with how things are going.
VN: You are now fifth overall. Is this better than you expected - were you thinking top ten rather than top five?
NR: I was thinking top ten all right…it would have been maybe over-ambitious to say top five when I arrived at the Vuelta. I thought it would be over-ambitions to hope for top 5. I am happy because top ten would have been great and top five is now something that is another big step forward for me.