Nicolas Roche conceded that after a good night’s sleep and some reflection he is more forgiving of himself for cracking inside the last kilometre of Sunday’s stage nine team time trial of the Tour de France that his Sky team lost to BMC by 0.6 of a second.
But the Irish rider has not totally admonished himself, even though Sky’s Dave Brailsford and his Australian teammate Richie Porte quickly came to his defence and praised him for his ride throughout the 28km stage.
“To be so close to a stage win in the Tour, it would be wrong not to be disappointed,” Roche, 31, said on Monday’s rest day at the team hotel in Pau near the Pyrenees.
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“I think it was only fair. You know, it was 500m to the line. We were all in there. G [Geraint Thomas] squeezed a little bit in that last kilometre. We were in for the win and there is a fine line. And I was just behind that line. But I think it is also normal that I am disappointed because it’s a massive effort.
“The whole team was looking forward to this race … and it’s such a special and particular event, the team time trial. I would have loved to have been on the podium with the guys. It didn’t happen because a couple of hundred metres.”
What if Roche had not of been the fifth Sky rider …
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