Nico Roche (Ag2r) Interview - What do you want to know?

[daveinzambia]

Did he raise his saddle by 3mm like his dad said and did it work.

If so did his dad gloat, and does he remind him about it on a weekly basis

 

[greenedge]

Do you recognise the need to work on your ITT?

Will you target the Classics again this year/ in the future?

What do you think of races like the Tour of Beijing being included into WT races?

Talk about being in a team with strong riders who compete at many different races?

What stage at this years TDF do you think would suit you most???

What is your favourite dish that you cannot eat regularly as a cyclist???

 

[personal]

Do you visit this forum and do you post here?

 

[simo1733]

"Sky is a great team and I have many good friends there, I'm super happy and completely focused on AG2R right now but who knows what'll happen in the future."

There, your stock response.

He sounds like Cesc Fabregas being asked about Barcelona.

 

[Mister A]

In your book, Bradley Wiggins almost seems to imply that AG2R don't give you the level of support a French team leader would get. Can you comment on that?

Under what circumstances would you consider changing teams?

 

[martyfulu]

who decides what training he does. is he given a schedule of training?

what is his biggest weakness?

 

[joe_papp]

In your book, Bradley Wiggins almost seems to imply that AG2R don't give you the level of support a French team leader would get. Can you comment on that?

Under what circumstances would you consider changing teams?

I can see the interest in the team situation and there's an amalgamated question that we'll pose to him that should hopefully get at this, if he chooses to answer.

I'm sending off the questions this afternoon - thanks everyone for rallying and sharing your thoughts.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Dear Nick,

How often do you speak to drug dealers?

 

[joe_papp]

Dear Nick,

How often do you speak to drug dealers?

Probably about as often as I respond to d-bags on this forum?

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

So many opportunities to practice (apparently), and yet you come out with a witless, vulgar response, which unintentionally (and I hope inaccurately) implicates your interviewee.

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Would you rather fight a horse sized duck or a hundred duck sized horses?

 

[El Pistolero]

Probably about as often as I respond to d-bags on this forum?

Nicolas Roche has the Irish nationality, so Waterloo automatically dislikes him

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Nicolas Roche has the Irish nationality, so Waterloo automatically dislikes him

My post had nothing to do with Nick Roche.

As to disliking Irish people, I have absolutely no idea what you're on about, other than guessing you're extrapolating from my nationality. In which case you don't really understand anglo-irish relations very well.

 

[ferryman]

My post had nothing to do with Nick Roche.

As to disliking Irish people, I have absolutely no idea what you're on about, other than guessing you're extrapolating from my nationality. In which case you don't really understand anglo-irish relations very well.

What is your nationality? BTW, nice word extrapolating in response to a post from a non English speaker.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

Classic thread..

Nico, who do you think the Falkland Islands should belong to?

 

[180mmCrank]

Would you rather fight a horse sized duck or a hundred duck sized horses?

So I deleted a number of off topic, xenophobic and doping related comments from the thread above. The quoted comment seems more on topic that some of what was deleted

Can we avoid doping references in this thread and stick to the topic.

Cheers

Terry
Admin

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

So I deleted a number of off topic, xenophobic and doping related comments from the thread above. The quoted comment seems more on topic that some of what was deleted

Can we avoid doping references in this thread and stick to the topic.

Cheers

Terry
Admin

Tel, what have the Falklands got to do with doping? ; )

 

[ninash]

Here are a few possible questions for Nicolas (of whom I am a big fan)

1- Why doesn't he participate any more to the Irish ITT Championships*?
As he has a good chance of winning it, and it would be a good training for the TT in the Tour, and he competes in around 10 time trials in a year, so he would wear the irish jersey rather often.

2- Would he prefer winning Paris-Nice or being Top10 in the Tour*?

3- How is his race schedule decided*?
Nicolas is a good all-rounder cyclist (good in hills, long climbs, sprints, but he's not «*excellent*» anywhere), has often good results in GCs, but doesn't win often unfortunately.
Shouldn't he targets more for a couple of years non-WT races that suit him well - such as Plumelec, Tour du Finistere, GP Frankfurt, Giro dell' Emilia, 3 Valli Varesine and stage races such as Trentino, Route du Sud, Tour de l'Ain, Settimana Lombarda - where he could improve his tactics, would definitely have chances of winning. And with more wins under his belt he would have less pressure for bigger races, etc -

4- How long does he plan to target GC in Grand Tours ? He could definitely be a Moncoutie type of rider, if he was taking it slow on some days, being far on GC and less tired, and targetting stage wins through breakaways.

5- Does he watch races such as Milano-Sanremo, Ronde or Roubaix on TV. He said one day he might participate (he did Sanremo and Ronde once, but a few years back). When can this happen ?

6- Will he participate to GP Quebec/Montreal someday*?

7- What does he think of the decisions of the UCI, especially on these 2 topics*: giving WT status to new races instead of promoting existing races*; the current point system, where a team would lose the points of its leader if he leaves the team, which is not nice for the domestiques who worked for that leader..

8- What does he think about ADAMS*, and the unequality of suspensions in doping cases from one country to another*?

9- How often does he have rest days*(completely off the bike) during the season*?

10- Does he have any plans for after his career? Would he be interested in taking part of a project that would give re-birth to the Tour of Ireland, or being a team director*?

 

[Boeing]

Does it bother you Phil calls you by your dads name?

 

[joe_papp]

Does it bother you Phil calls you by your dads name?

We wrapped the interview before GP Lugano (thanks for the questions everyone), but I might have to follow-up w/ that one just for kicks. Stay tuned for details on where/when the Q&A will be published.

 

[joe_papp]

Roche Interview published!

Nico Roche interview finally published, via Eurosport (http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/blazin-saddles/nicolas-roche-q-013501034.html#more-id)

Not every Q+A made it into the finally write-up, but probably next week we'll publish on my blog the full transcript w/ the questions - and answers - that were omitted from the finished piece.

Thanks to everyone who suggested questions! Couple of things to note:

1) in many cases we combined questions or combined/edited answers, so don't be surprised if your exact question isn't listed but you think you kinda see what could be construed as an answer to it.

2) some of the conversational quality of the interview was sacrificed to concerns for grammar and syntax. The original transcript was pretty awesome and I think, in a perfect world, we would've published it verbatim, w/o a single edit. But we didn't want some fools harassing Roche for his spelling and informality and attacking him on Twitter or otherwise mocking the casual disregard for traditional language concepts...even though that relaxed, informal style is part of what makes Roche such a good guy and easy to get along w/ (unless you're Gadret lol).

Thanks again, everyone. I'll post a link next week when the "out-takes" are published. Cheers.

 

[hrotha]

I'm a stage hunter who thinks he is a GC rider

Haha, spot on, Nico!

 

[simo1733]

Good job JP.Enjoyed.

 

[Caruut]

Nevermind..

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

He comes across as an amusing dude with a reasonable view of himself as a rider.