Roche moves up three places overall

CYCLING:NICOLAS ROCHE enjoyed another profitable day as he continued to move up the general classification in the Tour de France, advancing three places to 24th overall on the flat, wind-buffeted roads to Cap Fréhel yesterday.

The Ag2r La Mondiale rider saw and heard some of the day’s incidents but stayed clear of trouble due to good positioning and a little luck.

“I rode in the front most of the time,” Roche told The Irish Times after the incident-packed stage.

“I got through every crash today, lucky enough. There were a few close ones . . . the Wiggins one was pretty close to me. But I was fine.”

Roche dug deep at the end of Tuesday’s stage, fighting to limit his losses to the other GC contenders on the final climb.

However, yesterday’s race was more straightforward in terms of terrain, and the echelons and splits in the bunch predicted beforehand didn’t happen.

“I was okay today, I was happy with how things went,” he said.

“I had sore legs, obviously, and just because of the stress (due to the dangerous racing conditions) I was really tense. But it was fine,” added Roche.

“I didn’t take any risks going sprinting at the end. I was simply trying not to lose any time and was staying around 20th or 25th position.

“Tomorrow will be more of the same – it’s about staying out of trouble.”

Roche has pinpointed Saturday’s stage to the summit finish of Super Besse as likely being the next stage where serious time splits could occur.

Roche plans to save as much energy as possible before then, both by avoiding any attacks and also by trying to ensure he is well positioned at all times.