Fifteenth in the Tour de France and seventh in the Vuelta a España, Nicolas Roche knows that a key element to him improving his general classification chances is to improve his time trial abilities. His climbing level has jumped up this year, but he admits that his riding against the clock needs to also progress.
Roche was 47th in the prologue at the Tour de France, then finished 53rd in the final time trial. This result was a little misleading, though, due to the strong wind that hampered the later riders; he indicated afterwards that he was satisfied with that performance as he wasn’t far off the times of Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck.
Less to his liking was his 38th place in the Peñafiel time trial in the Vuelta, which dropped him from fifth to eighth in the race. “That cost me fourth overall in Madrid,” he told VeloNation.
Determined to improve, he is looking at the various things he can do to go quicker. “I don’t think I have found the right routine,” he admits. “I know TT specialists are very structured. They have everything worked out as regards what to do beforehand. I have to find out how to do it right. Perhaps one day I warm up with a better feeling than the other, then it works out on the bike. Other days, it’s not so good.
“Usually in a Grand Tour time trial, I am usually around 30th or 35th. I am never too bad, but I am just not a specialist. It just happens to be now that most of the riders who ride GC are capable of riding strong time trials as well. That is what I have to work on.”
It’s not just the day itself that’s important, though. Roche is going to have to train more for time trials and, to do that, he is going to have to get a second TT bike. He has one for the races, of course, but Ag2r La Mondiale hadn’t given him one to use at home. That puts him at an immediate disadvantage as most GC contenders have one.
“By following Twitter you can see Basso doing a six hour ride on his TT bike,” he said. “I think having one to train on is important. It’s also about doing the specific work for it as well. This year, I have done 100 percent of my training around climbing, and I have certainly lost a bit of my sprinting and I haven’t gained in time trialing.
“At some state I think it is just a question of integrating a bit of specific work to time trial as well…not only having the bike, but having the bike and doing the work with it.”
Roche has progressed steadily as a Grand Tour contender. Two years ago he was 13th overall in the Vuelta, but part of that result was due to getting into a large break and gaining time on the bigger names. Last year he was 23rd overall in the Tour de France, then this year he finished 15th in that race and seventh overall in the Spanish tour.
He’s had the best Irish run of form in three week Tours since his father Stephen and Sean Kelly were at the height of their careers. If his progress continues at the same pace, top ten in the Tour in 2011 is certainly realistic.