Nicolas Roche into top ten and vows to improve in the upcoming stages of 2011 Tour de France
AG2R La Mondiale team's Nicholas Roche is currently at the number tenth spot in general classification at the end of 12th stage. The Irish-born moved up three notches at the end of stage 12 and has admitted that he needs to put up a better
show in coming days as competition will only get tougher.
The 26-year-old has been the National Champion twice and has numerous top ten finishes in the Grand Tour stages.
He is also the son of Stephen Roche, former racing champion and cousin of Daniel Martin, 2008 Irish Road Champion. Nicolas started his profession at a very young age and is one of the youngest Pro-Tour racers. Roche became a French national in 2005
and Ireland had to suffer his loss as he won the 2002 Junior Tour of Ireland and was third in 2004 Irish Road Championship.
Roche struggled towards the end of the climb in this Tour, Luz Ardiden, as he dropped 2 minutes and 2 seconds to the stage winner, Samuel Sanchez. Roche conceded one minute and 52 seconds to Frank Schleck. Roche was aware that if he kept on losing
important minutes he will suffer later on as he said, “If I lose two to three minutes each day, I am not going to be in the top ten for very long, but hopefully things will keep improving. Last week I was really struggling to stay with the guys on the Mur
de Bretagne, while today I was feeling a lot better in that respect.”
Roche said that there is a valid reason why he suffered at the first mountain stage as he mentioned that he was racing on that kind of mountain after a long time. According to him, his performance was not bad, but he was certainly hoping to do better
from now onwards. Last time he rode on a mountainous track was during the Tour of Spain, last year.
He said his performance in the upcoming stages of the 2011 Tour de France will show significant signs of improvement.
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