Tour de France 2010

[gerry]

For you gerry....

34.   ROCHE Nicolas   81   AG2R LA MONDIALE   10h 05' 11"   + 03' 46"

he is half french anyway

[gerry]

nick had a great cycle today with a 11th place finish and now 12th overall

[give her dixie]

Nick did indeed have a good stage today, and he is doing well.
Lets hope he keeps it up.

[ONeill]

Young Roche playing a blinder.

[Norf Tyrone]

Is there a guy from Letterkenny on the Tour?

[gerry]

11, Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) at 1 min 42 secs

Nicolas Roche retained his eleventh place overall in the Tour de France today, finishing the 153 kilometre fourth stage in the same time as bunch sprint winner Alessandro Petacchi of the Lampre-Farnese Vini team. The Italian was quickest into the finish in Reims, edging out New Zealand's Julian Dean (Garmin Transitions) plus the rest of the peloton.

Roche picked up several top twelve finishes last year in similar bunch gallops but said before this year's Tour that he wouldn't waste energy this time round. He is aiming for a high general classification result and consequently will hold back on the flatter stages.

"I am sticking to what I said before, keeping safe," he said afterwards. "It was a bit dangerous coming towards the end, but it was okay. Nothing too bad. There were a few roundabouts near the end, but lucky enough it was really strung out with the tailwind. If there was a headwind it would have been much more dangerous.

"I felt fine today after yesterday's cobbles," he continued. "I felt a bit stiff, but nothing too bad."

[gerry]

another good day for nicolas

"The Manxman picked up his first stage of this year's Tour and eleventh of his career, while Nicolas Roche sprinted in a fine 14th."

[Joxer]

Is there a guy from Letterkenny on the Tour?

The guy your talking about is Phillip Deignan.  He was in it last year but unfortuantly didnt make it this year/  Think he had to finish in the top 40 or something like that in the Tour of Switzerland a couple of weeks ago to qualify.  He was well out of it I think.

[gerry]

Ireland's Nicolas Roche continued with his plan to save energy for the hillier stages and didn't contest the sprint. He rolled in 42nd and remains eleventh overall, one minute and 42 seconds behind Cancellara.

video posts here http://www.youtube.com/user/nicolasroche1984

[Tony Baloney]

Cavendish seems back on form. I thought the crash in one of the earlier stages had fucked him up.

[gerry]

now in the top ten


Ireland's Nicolas Roche had a strong showing on the stage, sprinting in towards the front of the group of favourites, and placing 11th.

He consequently moved up the general classification and is now a superb eighth overall, two minutes 28 seconds behind Chavanel.

[maddog]

http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/800/classement/index.html

roche doing a great job.

Was interesting yesterday to see that contador does actually look human in the mountains. He had no answer when Schleck put the hammer down. This one could be set for all out battle between the two in the pyrenees. Great tour so far, some great countryside to see as well, going to drive down there some time for sure.

[gerry]

Schleck made the last metres look easy, should be interesting  the next few days with more mountains to come.  roche still doing well, lets hope he keeps lady luck on his side compared to lance.



Ireland's Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) rode courageously but lost time on the final climb, placing 23rd and conceding two minutes 18 seconds to Schleck. He is now sixteenth overall, three minutes 11 seconds behind Evans.

"It was a very tough day, I had a hard one," he told Irishcycling.com afterwards. "I felt okay early on but at the end I didn't have it – I completely cracked in the last three kilometres. I just tried to limit my losses from there.

"I am looking forward to the rest day tomorrow, that will give me a chance to recover a little."

Roche said that he would continue riding in the same way as he has done up to now, remaining with the general classification contenders as long as possible rather than striking out early in the hope of a stage win. "For the moment, I am sticking to my plan," he said.

[gerry]

Ireland's Nicolas Roche suffered on the climb and finished 25th, 4 minutes 55 seconds back. He drops one place to seventeenth overall, but remains well within reach of his pre-race goal of a top 15 finish in Paris.

[imtommygunn]

Contador showed what he'smade of today. I get the feeling there's a certain inevitability about it but I hope I'm wrong. Would very much like to see Schlek win.

Roche doing well. Still young and will learn from the experience. Wiggins not backing up his first good tour and Lance appears to have bit the dust too.