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Last Updated: Jun 29th, 2008 - 10:52:26 |
Nicolas Roche will start today’s national road race championship as one of the big favourites. Last year he was arguably the strongest rider on the day but he attacked far too early, losing out on the chance to win. This season the Crédit Agricole professional has been in good form, winning the first stage of the GP Internacional Paredes Roda do Moveis in Portugal and taking several other big results.
While he recently had a spell in hospital to be treated for stomach ulcers, he showed good speed in dominating the Stephen Roche Grand Prix in Meadowmount, Dundrum, on Wednesday night, and is hoping to ride well today.
Roche attended the Tour of Ireland launch in Dublin Castle on Thursday and spoke to Irishcycling.com there. He gave his reaction to the race route, talked about his nationals ambitions and gave his thoughts on his Olympic Games selection plus Daniel Martin’s Route du Sud win.
Shane Stokes: Nicolas, what do you think of the Tour of Ireland route, which has just been announced?
Nicolas Roche: It is very exciting. There are a lot of climbs and also major-city finishes as well. I think it will be a great race.
SS: It ends with four laps of St Patrick’s Hill in Cork. Do you think that will be a good finale for the race?
NR: I think it is going to be a very exciting finale, except if you are an overweight sprinter - you're not going to enjoy that at all! I think it is going to be great. There will be a lot of show as well, the crowds will enjoy the laps there because you can see the riders so often. And especially on such a steep hill, they can see them going slowly, as well, so what will be a much more exciting.
Being the final stage, all the riders who haven't won something and want to win, or who have got good form, will try something. It is going to be a very, exciting finish.
SS: You have had a very good season so far this year. Last year, you had to pull out of the Tour of Ireland with injury - does that make you determined to come back and ride well there this year?
NR: Yes, absolutely. But to be honest with you this year I don't think it is it to be my call, because last year the team told me pretty early on that I was going to be released to ride it with the Irish team. This year the Tour of Ireland was on the team schedule, but I think now with the Olympics and the fact that dates have been changed, I think there are going to be four or five major races on at more or less the same time.
I think that I might have to step in [to those races] if any of the riders are injured, maybe the team will not release me. Now at the moment I am still hoping to do it, I am waiting for the team to confirm. But it is going to be a late call, anyway.
SS: If you do get to do it, how important is the race for you and the chance to compete on home roads with home support?
NR: As I said last year, I have been waiting for this moment since I was a kid. I was hoping that once I turned pro, there would be a race like this. Now it is my fourth year as a pro and unfortunately last year I missed out. But hopefully this year I get a chance.
For me it is very important to race in Ireland - any races in Ireland, be it the criterium last night in my home town to the nationals this weekend. That is why I always take the time to come back here [from his home in France].
SS: You mentioned the nationals. What are your aims?
NR: I am not sure. Hopefully… every time I go to a race, it is to try and win it. I think a lot of riders are in good form at the moment, I want to stay focused and do my best, and try to be a bit smarter this year.
SS: Last year, you attacked very early on. You showed you were probably the strongest guy on the day, but maybe you went a little soon… do you think that is fair enough to say ?
NR: I think it is very fair to say that. Being the strongest rider does not mean you are going to win, especially in cycling. Unfortunately that day I wasn't the smartest at all, I went a bit early and panicked, and then it was over for me. The guys behind reacted well and caught me with about 20 km to go. That was it for me then. I will try to avoid making those mistakes this year.
SS: Obviously, having the national champions jersey in the professional bunch would be a big thing, if you could do it…
NR: It is. I really enjoyed this year wherein the Irish skinsuit. Everybody loved it. I participated in the design of it this year, with my team and Cycling Ireland to make sure the colour and everything was right.
In France, the media were all going crazy for it everywhere. I was getting all the attention, not for my results or anything, but just for the skinsuit as it was really, really nice. It was white with just a very, very small drop of orange on the top and it has a nice little shamrock on it. It was plain, but we have to keep the shamrock there as well. We managed to get a good design, it was very nice looking.
Now the goal is to get the road one and do the same. I was proud to be wearing a champion’s jersey this year.
SS: You have been confirmed as going to the Olympics. What are your goals in Beijing?
NR: Well, it is a very difficult course, so it is hard to say what my goals are. There will be very hard weather conditions there as well. But hopefully I will do the best I can. I will be satisfied now if I get perhaps in the top 30 or top 50, but hopefully better.
The course is very difficult. I think that Philip is the main climber, but then I haven't ridden on it so it is hard to say - maybe it can suit me. But if it is very steep, I think I will try to do my best for Philip.
SS: You are still a young rider, so this is obviously also about gathering experience for the years ahead and perhaps the next Olympic Games…
NR: That is true. I am also very happy to go with Philip because the two of us have been brought up in cycling together, since we were 15 or 16. We have shared apartments in Marseille, we have been amateur together, we have been to many world championships together, and now we are doing this Olympic thing together.
I think the two of us will also go on a training camp together in July, with the Irish Sports Council and the cycling federation, so it is going to be very exciting. We know each other pretty well, we are good friends, so it is going to be very nice to be working together.
SS: Yourself and Philip represent two of the big hopes for Irish cycling, you are two of the big prospects. But there is also your cousin Daniel Martin who won the Route du Sud last weekend. He is also showing very good promise at this point.
NR: He is. I have to say I am very impressed with Daniel's progress in the last two or three years. When he was in his first year as an amateur [abroad], he was going well but he was struggling a bit. He really copped on the next year and had a fantastic year.
You know, when you have a really hard year, sometimes the year after you can be a little tired. But he has really adapted very well to professional cycling. I have competed in a couple of races with him this year, and now he has shown that he was capable of winning a race. That is important, because getting results is one thing, but I was very impressed to see he was capable of winning a stage race as prestigious as the Route du Sud.
I was mainly impressed with his performance in the time trial. The race was settled [to be decided from a small group of riders] after the first day because the bunch was already 35 minutes behind, but getting a sixth position in that very hard time trial was an extremely good performance.
SS: Do you think it is an encouraging sign for Irish cycling that you have got these three strong riders, yourself included, coming through at this time?
NR: I think it is. It is a good sign. Hopefully we will be there in the years ahead, we will try to bring the Irish public once again back into cycling and give them an extra few goosebumps.
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