Ag2r La Mondiale leader Nicolas Roche started today’s eleventh stage of the Vuelta a España in 17th place overall, three minutes and 47 seconds behind the race leader Chris Froome. At the same point last year he was eighth, just one minute 21 seconds behind Joaquim Rodriguez, although the race’s time trial had not yet taken place.
He finished seventh overall last year but despite his greater time losses this year, isn’t ruling out another top ten Grand Tour finish.
“The aim now is to go as well as possible for as long as possible, and see how that turns out,” he told VeloNation yesterday evening. “I think I will definitely have to go better on the climbs ahead to finish in the top ten, but I think the climbs ahead will suit me better anyway. If they’re steeper, then I should be stronger on them. I am pretty confident looking at the climbs ahead.”
Roche pointed out that he lost time on the race’s two longer finishing climbs rather than on the shorter, steeper ascents. He was 36th on the stage to Sierra Nevada, cracking slightly towards the end and dropping 51 seconds to stage winner Dani Moreno (Katusha) and 40 to the other GC contenders. He then placed 19th on Sunday’s stage to La Covatilla, losing an additional 47 seconds to his first cousin Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervélo) and conceding similar time to riders like Bradley Wiggins, current leader Chris Froome (both Sky Procycling) and last year’s Vuelta champion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas Cannondale).
“I am happy enough so far with the race, but disappointed about those two long mountain stages where I kind of messed up,” he explained. “The first one was Sierra Nevada, and then there was the one that Dan won [stage nine].
“I don’t know what happened at Sierra Nevada, whether I got the bonk or it was the effects of altitude. I just went from feeling really good to being completely empty. The one where Dan won, I was feeling really comfy on the steep bits but when Froome accelerated on the flatter bits, I put myself in the hurtbox and completely blew. I was a bit disappointed and frustrated with that one.”
Roche initially went clear with Martin when the latter attacked, only to ease back after several hundred meters of climbing. It looked like he had perhaps gone too deep and suffered afterwards as a result, but he said that things happened in a different manner.
“I was actually feeling good with Dan but when Dan accelerated again, that is why I didn’t try to follow,” he explained. “I knew Scarponi was behind me and I decided to wait for him as Dan was going just that bit too quick. It was to avoid putting myself in the red too soon, as there was still four kilometres to go.
“I looked back, saw that Scarponi was just a few seconds behind and I decided to climb with him as he is a bit more steady. When we hit the flatter sections, that is where it started to hurt and I ended up losing time. I was a bit p**ed off about that afterwards.”
He has climbed well on other stages, however. “I was happy about those two steep climbs where I finished seventh and eighth [San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Valdepeñas de Jaen – ed.] and was also fifth on a flatter stage. So my Vuelta is not going bad, it is just the case that there were two days where I thought I was going to go a bit better.”
Roche is not known as a time trialist and as was the case last year, he lost time to many of the other GC contenders in Monday’s 47 kilometre Salamanca test. He conceded three minutes 44 seconds to Tony Martin and two minutes 45 seconds to Froome.
The bulk of the time conceded on GC is therefore due to the race against the clock, but he isn’t as hard on himself about that as he is about the two aforementioned mountain stages.
“I am satisfied enough with how it went,” he insisted, recognising that it is not his forte. “The only thing is that extra minute..I was three and a half minutes down on Tony Martin when two and a half would have been better. I was also hoping to be a minute quicker than I was in relation to the other GC riders. Still, there’s plenty of climbing ahead and hopefully I’ll start moving back up the general classification again.”
Today’s eleventh stage travels to the summit of the Estación de Esquí Alto de la Manzaneda. It steepens near the top and this will give Roche a chance to see how his climbing legs are holding up after yesterday’s rest day. He’s one minute 34 seconds off tenth overall and will take every opportunity to make up lost time.