CYCLING:FOLLOWING YET another superb performance in the mountains yesterday, Nicolas Roche appears on course for a top-five finish in the Vuelta a España after moving up a slot. The Ag2r la Mondiale rider jumped back to fifth overall when he rode strongly on the final climb to the summit of Alto de Cotobello, holding back early and then ramping up the speed as the line approached.
He finished eighth, one minute 44 seconds behind the solo winner Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who was the lone survivor of an early break.
"While I've been generally pleased with the race, there have been two stages in this Vuelta when I was very happy," he told The Irish Times.
“The first was the stage when I was fifth (Saturday), and the second was today. I said I wanted to ride more aggressively in this race than in the Tour de France, and I did that yesterday when I attacked with a kilometre and a half to go.”
One of Roche’s big rivals, Frank Schleck, went clear on the final climb and finished just one minute six seconds behind Nieve. He gained 38 seconds on Roche and moved above him in the general classification.
However, Roche nevertheless progressed a place himself as two riders who were ahead of him, Peter Velits (HTC Columbia) and Xavier Tondo (Cervélo Test Team), both cracked on the climb and conceded almost three minutes to him.
Another who lost time was the overnight race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas), although he didn’t concede anything like the same amount. He got into difficulty on the final climb and dropped 37 seconds to Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), slipping to second overall.
Roche has a rest day today and knows there is most likely just two stages left which can affect the general classification. The first is tomorrow’s 46 kilometre time trial in Peñafiel and then Saturday’s final mountain stage to Bola del Mundo. If he keeps his momentum going, fifth in Madrid on Sunday should be his.
He’s happy, but also cautious. “I’m feeling hopeful but also aware that in a stage race, you can have off days too. So I’m taking nothing for granted yet,” he said.
Elsewhere, the Liverpudlian Mark McNally took a strong result for the An Post Grant Thorton M Donnelly Seán Kelly team yesterday, netting fifth on the mountainous, rain-lashed third stage of the Tour of Britain. He reached the finish 28 seconds behind the solo victor Michael Albasini (Team HTC Columbia). National champion Matt Brammeier (An Post Grant Thornton M Donnelly Seán Kelly) plus the young Irish riders Seán Downey (Ireland) and Philip Lavery (An Post) rode solidly against some top-level pros, netting 38th, 39th and 43rd.
Lavery, who is on a trial with the An Post team, is best of the Irish overall in 43rd place and is assured of being offered a contract as a result.
McNally is a fine 20th after yesterday’s performance.
