Roche finishes 39th in Tour de France

Nicolas Roche brought his Tour de France to an end yesterday when he rolled in 41 seconds behind the sprint winner Marcel Kittel (Giant Shimano) on the final stage in Paris.

The Irishman spent most of the race riding for others, and yesterday’s stage tactics were centred on setting up Daniele Bennati for a crack at the final sprint.

However, Bennati ultimately found himself out of position for the final gallop and ended the stage 11th.

Roche had limited opportunities during the Tour to ride for himself, although he did put in a big bid for a win on stage 11 to Oyonnax.

While his solo move was reeled in before the line, he earned the most aggressive rider award on the stage.

He was also very active on the mountain stage to St Larry Pla d’Adet, attacking on the final climb and then helping set team-mate Rafal Majka up for the stage win. The Polish rider opened a commanding lead in the King of the Mountains competition as a result and went on to win that prize overall yesterday. Roche ended the Tour 39th overall.