Nicolas Roche Discussion Thread

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Cimber

Cimber

Jan 3, 2011
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IndianCyclist said:
I actually wanted to ask this question. So bumped this thread.
Why isn't Nicholas Roche in Sky? It is an English speaking team with HQ close to Ireland. Plus he will probably get the benefit of support to improve his skills. He's already decided to ride as domestique for Saxo-Tinkoff. Why not do that for Sky? Or is it the English-Irish thing? But there are many Irish footballers playing for English clubs without any problems.
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Because pro cycling teams arent national teams. Same ad asking why EBH, Hushovd and Kessiakoff arent all riding for Saxo bank, and why Cataldo isnt riding for say Cannondale etc etc
 
Cimber

Cimber

Jan 3, 2011
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The Hitch said:
Saxo is danish;)
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Yes and Sky is British not Irish. Just thought the argument that Irish should join a British team is the same as Swedes and Norwegians should join a Danish team
 
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hayzer114

Dec 13, 2012
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While the season so far hasnt gone too well for him, I think in this half of the season he will start to perform a lot better as he has traditionally gone well in this section. Was 15th in Suisse serving Roman, having been 10th last year as team leader. I think he will go quite well in the tour as a helper for Contador which will hopefully put him in a good position for the Vuelta which he has is the race he is most suited to. A stage win would b huge for him and it should be his main focus going forward. Take Sean Kelly's advice on board forget about gc, lose time and get back to his old attacking style and go for stages as they will look better in the long run on his palmares, as at the moment its lookin bare, a couple of good gc showings, National road and tt champion and Stage in Beijing. Look at his cousin Dan Martin, excellent rider, proven stage hunter/classics man who is full of confidence from winning and knows how to win.
 
K

Kokoso

Apr 22, 2012
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IndianCyclist said:
I actually wanted to ask this question. So bumped this thread.
Why isn't Nicholas Roche in Sky? It is an English speaking team with HQ close to Ireland. Plus he will probably get the benefit of support to improve his skills. He's already decided to ride as domestique for Saxo-Tinkoff. Why not do that for Sky? Or is it the English-Irish thing? But there are many Irish footballers playing for English clubs without any problems.
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Plus in Saxo he gets his fair share of own chance as a leader, in Sky I doubt he'd get a chance.
 
gooner

gooner

Mar 25, 2013
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Nothing against Saxo and Riis here but I don't think he should have gone there in the first place. At least at AG2R he was one of the leaders along with Peraud and Gadret and would go afterwards to lead as well at the Vuelta. That is just not going to happen now, not just with Contador but Kreuziger and the breakthrough of Majka at the Giro. He listened too much to Stephen who has been advising him for sometime to go to Riis who said he could turn him into a top 5 Tour rider. He said this without taking into account the riders who would be around him.

Let's see how the season progresses for him but he always talks about the Vuelta being his favourite race and will surely want a more free role for himself but it's debatable whether that will be the case. Majka will probably do the Vuelta and who knows about Kreuziger since he didn't do the Giro this year. I don't hold out much hope.
 
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hayzer114

Dec 13, 2012
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I would say that with a strong team around in in the Vuelta he could do quite well, always taught AG2R left him isolated in the mountains in the past couple of years. To be fair he has been consistent in the tour over the past number of years, ok not quite breaking top ten but 22, 14, 24, 12 is not too bad either.
 
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sienna

Jul 25, 2010
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Sydney21 said:
I like him as a rider too. I think young refers to that his best is still ahead of him. Porte is a neo pro and hasn't been on the road for long and that usually prolongs the peak of a rider by a couple of years. But I think Roche would have been better off leaving Ag2R and Gadret to avoid french politics. He could have found himself a much better home at sky or somewhere else where he would recieve full support. Then again there would be British politics there too.
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How would he receive full support at Sky?:D
 
batchuba

batchuba

Sep 8, 2012
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gooner said:
Nothing against Saxo and Riis here but I don't think he should have gone there in the first place. At least at AG2R he was one of the leaders along with Peraud and Gadret and would go afterwards to lead as well at the Vuelta. That is just not going to happen now, not just with Contador but Kreuziger and the breakthrough of Majka at the Giro. He listened too much to Stephen who has been advising him for sometime to go to Riis who said he could turn him into a top 5 Tour rider. He said this without taking into account the riders who would be around him.

Let's see how the season progresses for him but he always talks about the Vuelta being his favourite race and will surely want a more free role for himself but it's debatable whether that will be the case. Majka will probably do the Vuelta and who knows about Kreuziger since he didn't do the Giro this year. I don't hold out much hope.
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He isn't, at this time, a realistic GC contender. He is perfectly suited to being a world class domestique. It was an excellent move for him, and something he should have done before. If it wasn't for his famous name, he would have.

And he will probably get his shot at the smaller races.
 
Cimber

Cimber

Jan 3, 2011
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batchuba said:
He isn't, at this time, a realistic GC contender. He is perfectly suited to being a world class domestique. It was an excellent move for him, and something he should have done before. If it wasn't for his famous name, he would have.

And he will probably get his shot at the smaller races.
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He already had his shot in 2-3 stage races this year. He just blew them all.
 
Jelantik

Jelantik

Jul 19, 2010
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gooner said:
Nothing against Saxo and Riis here but I don't think he should have gone there in the first place. At least at AG2R he was one of the leaders along with Peraud and Gadret and would go afterwards to lead as well at the Vuelta. That is just not going to happen now, not just with Contador but Kreuziger and the breakthrough of Majka at the Giro. He listened too much to Stephen who has been advising him for sometime to go to Riis who said he could turn him into a top 5 Tour rider. He said this without taking into account the riders who would be around him.

Let's see how the season progresses for him but he always talks about the Vuelta being his favourite race and will surely want a more free role for himself but it's debatable whether that will be the case. Majka will probably do the Vuelta and who knows about Kreuziger since he didn't do the Giro this year. I don't hold out much hope.
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sometimes you have to be patient. Not everyone changing team expects to make a dramatic results. Look at Porte. This year finally he gets what he expects to see. Roche, is still learning new system, and finding where he is among his teammate. Sometimes it's better surrounded by good and strong riders, because he can benchmark himself against them. Sure he was team leader at AG2R. But among other riders in the world, he isn't a top contender either. I guess the choice would be 'does he want to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond' which he can grow to be bigger fish in big pond?
 
Jelantik

Jelantik

Jul 19, 2010
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Cimber said:
He already had his shot in 2-3 stage races this year. He just blew them all.
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yup. exactly. He is still trying to find himself and what his strength. It's not like saxo didn't give him a chance to shine. He hasn't delivered as he was expected so far. I'm reading somewhere that he needed to loose his weight. But instead the diet that he got make him gaining weight.. Also his TT position, he and his team finally agreed that his old position was faster than the new one. So this year is a year of discovery for Roche.
 
Opalius

Opalius

Jul 21, 2010
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"Roche found himself outside the Liquigas team bus, waiting for Bennati. In front of the assembled media, Roche grabbed him by the throat, told him to show some respect, and if he didn’t understand that the priority was the yellow jersey on Roche’s team, then he didn’t understand cycling; the message being, don’t mess with Roche." :D
 
Opalius

Opalius

Jul 21, 2010
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Nice win. Both for him and Saxo. It will be interesting to see how the trio (Roche, Kreuziger & Majka) performs. Lots of strings for Saxo to play.
 
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hayzer114

Dec 13, 2012
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Great ride by Nicolas today, finally getting the rewards for the hard work he has put in over the past number of years. At the tour he gave everything for Alberton, selflessly and over the past number of years he has been unfortunate at both the Tour/Vuelta in terms of GC. Sean Kelly has always emphasised that he should change focus on stages and today he showed what potential he has in this area. What better time to get a stage win than at the start, the pressure is off him, he can go on and ride freely, If he goes well in GC great, if not he has the biggest win of his career and there is no reason he cant win another now. Congrats Nico.
 
Opalius

Opalius

Jul 21, 2010
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That was a good read. He managed to convey some of the genuine happiness that he felt about it all coming together.
 
murali

murali

Nov 26, 2012
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another good result by roche today.

except for the TTT stage, he has always been in top-10. In fact, 10th spot in today's race is the lowest for him.

waiting for him to shine tomorrow!
 
murali

murali

Nov 26, 2012
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its nice to hear roche talk about that little brute.

I just hope that he doesn't waste his efforts on the green jersey, but concentrate on finishing well in mountains and GC.
 
rhubroma

rhubroma

Apr 2, 2009
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Sydney21 said:
I like him as a rider too. I think young refers to that his best is still ahead of him. Porte is a neo pro and hasn't been on the road for long and that usually prolongs the peak of a rider by a couple of years. But I think Roche would have been better off leaving Ag2R and Gadret to avoid french politics. He could have found himself a much better home at sky or somewhere else where he would recieve full support. Then again there would be British politics there too.
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In his dad's era it was thus go Italian, with, though, the inevatable consequences that were perhaps still more auspicious.

Unfortunately today Italy offers nothing.
 
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