Nicolas Roche Discussion Thread

[Zinoviev Letter]

in other words he was using tour to train for the vuelta, I guess good for him.

He sounds a bit bewildered about why he was carrying extra weight into the Tour. He has said a couple of times that he followed exactly the same plan as previously to control his weight yet somehow ended up 2.5kg heavier than the previous year, and couldn't understand why.

(It could be an ageing thing?)

 

[movingtarget]

Has been an unusual race so far even though it is early days. But it's good to see Roche and Basso do well. Moreno looks better than Rodriguez and Nibali does not look that great either.

 

[Kokoso]

in other words he was using tour to train for the vuelta, I guess good for him. On the other hand, RK was really working his *** off for AC in the Tour and it shows here in the spain. AC has to repay this effort maybe next year ardennes classics.

No, he said he hadn't no clue why he was so fat and that it wasn't supposed to be so.

 

[Kokoso]

This is a misunderstanding.

The strategy was all explained in various interviews. Roche was not supposed to be there for the high mountains: That job was assigned to Kreuziger and Rogers. Roche was to be prepared to work on hills, lower slopes of mountans and medium mountain stages. Contador had no possible use for three guys in the high mountains. When Contador needed work done in the bits of the race Roche was assigned to do (which wasn't often but did happen), Roche was there and looked good.

Saxo are well organised when they are riding for Contador and domestiques (particularly their key ones) have quite specific duties. They don't just get told to stick around as long as possible, unless they are in the Kreuziger last man role.

That's no misunderstanding. He was downright sucking. Before Tour it has been said clearly that he'd be mountain domestic. This changed only in the course of Tour, because he sucked in mountains. And so they changed attitude to him and made him flat, medium mountain domestic etc. Even on the beginning of the slopes of mountains he was usually nowhere to be seen.

One can ask if this form improvement and weight loss happened by accident, or it's teams plan or it's purely his plan.

 

[happytramp]

That's no misunderstanding. He was downright sucking.

Go away and watch stage 13 of the tour and then come back and say that with a straight face.

 

[Kokoso]

Go away and watch stage 13 of the tour and then come back and say that with a straight face.

God sakes, that wasn't even mountain stage, but. So I say it again with perfectly straight face: Nico sucked at Tour de France this year. Or if you'd better hear that he underperformed, or wasn't at level he was supposed to be...whatever you want, it's just the same in the end.

I'm cheering for him at Vuelta. Partly because he's is one of the more normally looking GC contenders and pro-cyclist generally, partly becuase he's Saxo boy. Partly because of his writing activity

 

[Hugo Koblet]

He seems like a very likeable guy. Always happy. I still think he's gonna blow up at some point.

 

[Kokoso]

He seems like a very likeable guy. Always happy.

Yeah? Ask Bennati

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Yeah? Ask Bennati

Haven't heard of that incident before. Well, he seems like a happy guy today

 

[Jelantik]

That's no misunderstanding. He was downright sucking. Before Tour it has been said clearly that he'd be mountain domestic. This changed only in the course of Tour, because he sucked in mountains. And so they changed attitude to him and made him flat, medium mountain domestic etc. Even on the beginning of the slopes of mountains he was usually nowhere to be seen.

One can ask if this form improvement and weight loss happened by accident, or it's teams plan or it's purely his plan.

Nicho didn't perform what he was supposed to do at TDF. I have to agree with you, I guess he did suck at that time . Maybe he was just over weight and his form wasn't there. At Vuelta, he looked lean, and he seemed to ride well. I hope majka recovers well as well. Would be nice to have 2 guys for saxo to go for GC. Since Nicho moved to saxo, I started following him. He is very nice guy and always enjoy his interview. I do hope he came out on the top at the end of 3 week.

 

[HCl+HN03]

Haven't heard of that incident before. Well, he seems like a happy guy today

http://www.independent.ie/sport/oth...led-me-every-name-under-the-sun-26553019.html

Looks to me as if Roche was the nice guy.

 

[boringboy]

Glad to see Roche do well, but surprised to see, especially yesterday how neither Roman or CAS was anywhere to be seen, especially since CAS said he was in good shape. Believe Majka lost contact on the descent like a few others, which cost almost 1 min, but he should be there for him on the mountains, i believe.

 

[The Blues]

CAS was in the front group, but went back to help out Majka, which is why he was "nowhere to be seen".

 

[boringboy]

AH i did not se him, thanks. Think they might play out Roman for a stage later on, rather than using him as a dom again.

 

[jyhjyh]

Diary for August 31 and September 1

http://www.independent.ie/sport/oth...ttle-dream-i-couldnt-be-happier-29544383.html

 

[HCl+HN03]

I have to say good ride by Roche today. Could obisouvly been better, but considering this was the first really tough stage, he did ok. Compared to Pinot, he is better than last years tour, I think.

He still in the mix, and if this was his bad day, everything can happens.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I have to say good ride by Roche today.

Yes. I admit that I thought he was going way too deep, fighting back to the small leader's group over and over again and would pop entirely at some point. Sometimes it appears that gritting your teeth and refusing to be dropped actually can be a better idea than backing off and riding your own pace.

3rd place after stage 10 is a very good showing, and of course he's already won a stage and worn all of the jerseys, but I still tend to think that he'll have difficulty holding this sort of form into the third week.

 

[jyhjyh]

Diary for 2 September

I became a human yo-yo:

http://www.independent.ie/sport/oth...ck-only-to-be-dropped-off-again-29546625.html

 

[movingtarget]

Yes. I admit that I thought he was going way too deep, fighting back to the small leader's group over and over again and would pop entirely at some point. Sometimes it appears that gritting your teeth and refusing to be dropped actually can be a better idea than backing off and riding your own pace.

3rd place after stage 10 is a very good showing, and of course he's already won a stage and worn all of the jerseys, but I still tend to think that he'll have difficulty holding this sort of form into the third week.

I think Roche is riding an intelligent race. Moreno paid for his efforts in previous days. Basso has surprised me. Horner doesn't and it will be interesting to see how long he can hang in near the top of the GC.

 

[murali]

i was surprised by roche's performance. i just hope that he can recover for TT

 

[Dedelou]

Yes. I admit that I thought he was going way too deep, fighting back to the small leader's group over and over again and would pop entirely at some point. Sometimes it appears that gritting your teeth and refusing to be dropped actually can be a better idea than backing off and riding your own pace.

3rd place after stage 10 is a very good showing, and of course he's already won a stage and worn all of the jerseys, but I still tend to think that he'll have difficulty holding this sort of form into the third week.

Yes. Going deep may not be "too deep" on a stage before the rest day if you are good at recovering. We know that riding your own page can prevent heavy losses, but we have seen time and again that digging deep has produced amazing performances that sometimes change forever a rider perspective on his capacities. Modern cycling can be so calculated, what with computers, power-meters and all. Legends have been made from doing what appeared impossible. Roche has already done that in the Vuelta.

 

[murali]

Yes. Going deep may not be "too deep" on a stage before the rest day if you are good at recovering. We know that riding your own page can prevent heavy losses, but we have seen time and again that digging deep has produced amazing performances that sometimes change forever a rider perspective on his capacities. Modern cycling can be so calculated, what with computers, power-meters and all. Legends have been made from doing what appeared impossible. Roche has already done that in the Vuelta.

that is insulting roche, the rising star

 

[Afrank]

Yes. I admit that I thought he was going way too deep, fighting back to the small leader's group over and over again and would pop entirely at some point. Sometimes it appears that gritting your teeth and refusing to be dropped actually can be a better idea than backing off and riding your own pace.

3rd place after stage 10 is a very good showing, and of course he's already won a stage and worn all of the jerseys, but I still tend to think that he'll have difficulty holding this sort of form into the third week.

I think he'll probably fall back in the 3rd week, but he's done very well this Vuelta. Much better then I expected him to be doing at this point. Really, no matter where he places in the end now, this will go down as his most successful performances in a GT. His performance has been a nice surprise in this Vuelta.

 

[Dedelou]

that is insulting roche, the rising star

I sure hope not. Just trying to say he has done something really fantastic so far in the Vuelta. To date he remains our best Frenchman in the GC

 

[Angliru]

I sure hope not. Just trying to say he has done something really fantastic so far in the Vuelta. To date he remains our best Frenchman in the GC

I assume you're talking about Pinot and not Roche. But I'm not sure since this is the Roche thread and he formerly rode for a French team. Roche is Irish by the way.