Nicolas Roche showed strong early-season form today when he went on the attack on the tough fourth leg of the Etoile de Bessèges in France.

The Irish road race champion plus his four breakaway companions kicked clear 60 kilometres from the end of the stage, but were reeled in less than three kilometres from the finish line in Alès.

French rider Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) took the resulting bunch gallop, appearing to repeat his victory of 24 hours earlier.

However he was disqualified for cutting the race course, meaning that the victory passed instead to the runner-up, Arnaud Molmy (Team Roubaix-Lille Métropole). Molmy now takes over the race lead.

The first two riders in the general classification this morning, Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) and An Post Grant Thornton Sean Kelly’s Niko Eeckhout, lost time during the mountainous stage. They finished 20 minutes and 31 seconds back, as did Eeckhout’s team-mates Stijn Minne, Paídi O’Brien and Maxim De Busschere.

However Eeckhout’s team-mate Pieter Ghyllebert kept the squad’s good run going, netting third on the stage and moving to fifth overall. Mark McNally and Connor McConvey also finished in the 74 man main bunch, while Roche sat up once caught and rolled in 15 seconds behind.

While Roche will be disappointed to miss out on the chance of a stage win, he can take great encouragement by his performance in this, his first event of 2010.

He has never gone well so early on in the season, and is clearly showing the benefits of starting racing 4 kilos lighter than in 2009.

“I attacked when there were three riders out in front. I caught one guy [another chaser] on the climb and he took my wheel. They were five of us then,” he told Irishcycling.com. “Hoogerland wasn’t riding as his team-mate [Bozic] had the jersey; even though he was losing the jersey, he still wouldn’t ride.

“I don’t feel in great form yet, but it is good to know that I am going okay even though my form is not as good as it can be. I am probably feeling better on the climbs due to being a bit lighter. For sure the weight will help, as in other years I was always trying to lose weight. Now I can concentrate a bit more on my training and also take more rest days, as I don’t have to try to burn off body fat.”


How it happened:

The stage saw the riders tackle a number of climbs, and An Post Grant Thornton Sean Kelly rider Mark McNally was one of the early attackers.

He went clear in the first ten kilometres with eleven others, namely Pierre Rolland (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Yoann Offredo (Française des Jeux), John-Lee Augustyn (Team Sky), René Mandri (Ag2r La Mondiale), Thierry Hupond (Skil-Shimano), Rémi Cusin (Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne), Frédéric Veuchelen (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team), Yanninck Talabardon (Saur-Sojasun), Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne-Schuller) and Edward King (Cervélo Test Team).

They built a lead of almost four minutes, but this was reduced to 15 seconds by the top of the Col de la Baraque. Several riders made the junction on the descent and a group of 41 then pushed on ahead, amongst them McNally and Roche.

Pierrick Fédrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team) and Jonathan Hivert (Saur-Sojasun) went clear from this group 80 kilometres into the stage, and were joined eight kilometres later by Roche and Mathieu Ladagnous (Française des Jeux).

Fédrigo led the others over the Col de Trélis, at which point they had a lead of 45 seconds over the peloton. This lead increased slightly to 50 seconds with 34 kilometres remaining, but the Cofidis team of Dumoulin plus the Astana squad were chasing hard behind.

The quintet did what they could to stay clear but were ultimately pulled back with just three kilometres remaining. The inevitable bunch sprint saw 74 riders sprint it out for the win; Dumoulin was first across the line but was soon disqualified, giving victory and race leadership to Molmy.

Ghyllebert will start tomorrow’s final stage 16 seconds behind, with McNally and McConvey a further four seconds back in 49th and 67th place. Roche is now 73rd. He expects a battle early on tomorrow but thinks that everything will come back together.

“Tomorrow the first sixty to seventy kilometres is hard but then after that the race moves onto a finishing circuit,” he stated. “I think it will be a bunch sprint. I’ll just take it easy, won’t try anything.”

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Etoile de Bessèges, France (2.1, February 3- 7)

February 6, Stage 4: Gran Prix d'Ales en Cevennes:

1, Arnaud Molmy (Team Roubaix-Lille Métropole) 140 km in 3 hours 20 mins 27 secs
2, Matthieu Ladagnous (Française des Jeux)
3, Pieter Ghyllebert (An Post-Sean Kelly)
4, Dominique Rollin (Cervélo Test Team)
5, Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
6, Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) all same time

Other:

53, Mark Mc Nally (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly)
73, Connor Mc Convey (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) each same time
78, Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) at 15 secs
108, Niko Eeckhout (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) at 20 mins 31 secs
109, Stijn Minne (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly)
110, Paidi O'Brien (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly)
115, Maxim De Busschere (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) all same time
127, Kenny Lisabeth (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) at 23 mins 33 secs


General Classification:

1, Arnaud Molmy (Roubaix Lille Metropole) 13 hours 55 mins 10 secs
2, Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) at 10 secs
3, Anthony Geslin (Francaise Des Jeux) at mins 14 secs
4, Julien Loubet (AG2R La Mondiale) at 15 secs
5, Pieter Ghyllebert (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) at 16 secs
6, Matthieu Ladagnous (Francaise Des Jeux) at 17 secs

Other :

49, Mark Mc Nally (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) at 20 secs
67, Connor Mc Convey (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) same time
73, Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) at 35 secs
87, Niko Eeckhout (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) at 20 mins 41 secs
111, Stijn Minne (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) at 20 mins 51 secs
115, Paidi O'Brien (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) same time
122, Kenny Lisabeth (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) at 23 mins 53 secs
132, Maxim De Busschere (An Post - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly) at 36 mins 1 sec

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