Roche Digs Deep In Sprint For Minor Places At The World Championships In Spain

Ireland's Nicolas Roche wrapped up the UCI Road World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, with an impressive 26th position in the Elite Men's Road Race. With relentless rain throughout the 254.8km course, Roche's gutsy riding and strong bunch position saw him finish 26th in the sprint for 7th place. Teammate Dan Martin suffered bad luck on the 12th lap, when a crash resulted in him requiring a bike change, and a hard chase to the already fast moving peloton. Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski won the title, Simon Gerrans (AUS) silver and Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (ESP) took bronze. This concludes a fine World Championships for the Irish Team, where Ryan Mullen won a silver medal in the U23 Men's Time Trial on Monday, and junior rider Michael O'Loughlin impressed with a top ten finish in the Junior Men's Time Trial. The Championships ran from Sunday 21st September until Sunday the 28th September.

The Elite Men's race was contested over the same 18.2km circuit that has been used in all the road races this week, with 14 laps to complete. In the early stages of the race a four man break moved to the lead, leaving a steady pace in the bunch for majority of the race. However, with about 70km to go, the pace came up in the bunch, with the Polish Team piling on the pressure to bridge the 14 minute gap. Ireland's three riders sat comfortably in the peloton throughout the race, until Martin crashed, requiring a bike change. Roche pressed on, keeping with the main contenders until the end. With 5km left the front group was depleted, but Roche dug deep over the final climb, ensuring he was in the sprint for 7th place securing a fine 26th place in the finish.

Speaking after the race Team Manager Kurt Bogaerts, who is also the team manager for An Post Chain Reaction, said "We had a plan for today, we tried to go as far as possible with all the riders, and I am happy with the result of Nico, it is definitely what he is capable of, and he is capable of more. I am disappointed for Dan, because we have no idea where he would have finished up, it's frustrating. He was unlucky with the crash, he needed a bike change and we had to do a lot of work to get him back. Philip waited at the end of the group for Dan, but it was full racing when the crash happened. While he was waiting at the end, the group split, and Philip ended up in the split."
The weather conditions didn't help with the chase back to the peloton, "It was the worst of conditions today, and the majority of it was in the rain, with tricky corners. Danger was always there, you can't control that, and it is risky."

Roche's 26th place finish is a great finish to what has been a successful World Championships for Team Ireland. Head Coach in Cycling Ireland, Brian Nugent, is happy with how the week went, "Nicolas's 26th position rounds up a week of great performances, where we got two top ten results, including Ryan's silver in the Time Trial. It was great to see guys in the final in the road races this weekend, the performances were consistent across the junior U23 and senior categories. We have put a dedicated focus on development in our younger riders, and it's really starting to pay off."