Irish rider Nicolas Roche had big ambitions going into the final days of the Critérium du Dauphiné, but was a non starter this morning due to the injuries he sustained in a crash on yesterday’s mountain stage to Les Gets.
“I am not physically capable of starting…I am cut all over the place, cut everywhere,” the disappointed Irishman told VeloNation this morning. “I’m bleeding and there is no point in taking a risk.”
Roche was fifth on the first mountain stage and had the goal of netting another top five placing on a stage between yesterday and the race’s conclusion on Sunday. He’s a good climber and also a fast finisher, and it is possible that he could have fared very well in yesterday’s finale.
“I am a bit disappointed that I didn’t have the chance to fight in the mountains,” he said. “I had said beforehand that I was afraid about the time trial and I was right about that, but I also said that I wanted to test myself on the climbs. I was able to do that on the first stage, but was hoping to give it another chance.
“Yesterday was a perfect climb for me, and today would have been a good finish as well. I had seen yesterday’s stage beforehand, and went to see tomorrow’s as well; I was very motivated. I was feeling good during yesterday’s stage. The crash happened on the descent, I hit a pothole. We were all grouped together, nobody said anything [about the hole]. We were in an aero position descending and then I hit it. That was it.”
Roche slid spread-eagled along the road and appeared dazed for several minutes afterwards. He remounted and limped on to the finish, his shorts and jersey in pieces and blood leaking from his body. He crossed the line over 25 minutes after stage winner Christophe Kern (Europcar), his aims of a top eight overall finish as shredded as his Ag2r la Mondiale team kit.
He went to a clinic afterward to get treatment, and was there for several hours. “I got back from the hospital to the hotel at around quarter past 11, then I had to have advice [with the team]. I then just went to bed afterwards, sleeping pretty badly.”
Roche travelled away from the race this morning and said that he would have to take two or three days rest. After that, he has a Pyrenean training camp between Tuesday and Friday.
One small consolation is that he crashed out of the race with two stages remaining, rather than earlier on. He says that his preparation for the national championships and the Tour de France will be disrupted more than those two missed stages, though.
“I’ll have three days off the bike, but it is going to be at least two or three weeks before I feel proper,” he said. “I am literally cut from my ankle up to my chin…going from shin all the way up to the hip, all the ribs, under the armpit, the arm, my fingers…they are all open.”
The incident is the latest in what has been some very frustrating months. He was sidelined twice during the winter due to injury, and also crashed heavily in Flèche Wallonne. That all affected his form, but he does have the reassurance that he was riding well prior to his latest fall.
“The condition is there, so I am not panicking,” he said, not allowing himself to get too discouraged. “I just have to be careful, resting good and making sure I can restart well.”