Riding in the event named in honour of his father’s achievements, Irish professional Nicolas Roche showed that he will be a major threat in this weekend’s national road race championships when he dominated the Stephen Roche Grand Prix in Dundrum tonight.

The Crédit Agricole rider bided his time and then attacked seven laps from the end of the race, quickly opening up a ten second lead despite a strong headwind on the finishing straight. This gap continued to rise until the final lap, hitting twenty seconds, and allowing him to fully savour his victory. Simon Kelly (Usher IRC) and Tim O'Regan (MyHome.ie) were second and third, with Colm Bracken (Murphy Surveyors), John Lynch (Bray Wheelers) and Aidan Crowley (My Home.ie) completing the top six.

Nicolas Roche - Picture by Peter Purfield

“Nicolas was head and shoulders above the rest,” said Paul Tansey of the promoting Orwell Dundrum Town Centre club. “He got away and put in a really fantastic performance. He recorded the fastest lap of the night with a 1’37, but was consistently lapping between 1’37 and 1’45 from the moment he got away.”

The event was sponsored by the Dundrum Town Centre, with it and Winning Solutions ensuring a strong prize fund and a large number of primes.

Other category winners were Philip Lavery (Eurocycles, first junior), Paul O’Keefe (Usher IRC, veteran), Rachel Heal (Webcor, women), Emmanuel Stockard (Lucan CRT, category three) and Noel McGlynn (Murphy Surveyors, category two).

Roche and his first cousin Daniel Martin (Garmin Slipstream Chipotle) will be amongst the top favourites in the national road race championships in Midleton on Sunday. First year professional Martin won the Route du Sud stage race last Sunday, taking the biggest Irish pro win since the days of Kelly and Roche.


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Stephen Roche Grand Prix, Meadowmount, Dundrum:

1, Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole)
2, Simon Kelly (Usher IRC)
3, Tim O’Regan (MyHome.ie)
4, Colm Bracken (Murphy Surveyors)
5, John Lynch (Bray Wheelers)
6, Aidan Crowley (My Home.ie)

First junior: Philip Lavery (Eurocycles)
First veteran: Paul O’Keefe (Usher IRC)
First woman: Rachel Heal (Webcor)
First senior 3: Emmanuel Stockard (Lucan CRT)
First senior 2: Noel McGlynn (Murphy Surveyors)