Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) will find out on Monday if he has been selected to ride the Giro d’Italia. The Irish rider may not have originally had the Italian Grand Tour on his race programme for 2016 but after a unique off-season the 31-year-old is contemplating the possibility of riding all three Grand Tours in a single season.
“Why not? It’s something that I’ve had in the back of my mind for a while. In 2014 I wanted to do it but things went different and the Vuelta didn’t happen,” he told Cyclingnews in an exclusive interview during the Tour de Yorkshire.
“The Giro isn’t usually a race that I’ve targeted because normally I go better in the heat and we know that the Giro goes through a few miserable days. I’ve gone more for the Vuelta in the past but why not the Giro this time? I’d like to go for it and I’ll know more on Monday.”
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Team Sky added Roche to their Giro d’Italia long-list earlier this year and they go towards the race targeting the overall standings with new signing Mikel Landa as their leader. Roche, if selected, would add firepower in the mountains while also having his own designs on a stage win. It is a tactic that paid off last year with the former Tinkoff and AG2R rider allowed the freedom to hunt stages in the Vuelta. He came away with the second Vuelta stage win of his career.
Part of the reason for Roche’s desire to head to Italy appears to stem from an attraction to try something different and spice up the format of his race programme. He has ridden the Tour every year since 2008, and while that remains the central focus to his season, he is mentally ready to tackle anything the Giro has to throw at him.
Back in January the Giro d’Italia looked a long shot given that Roche had been on a course of antibiotics after suffering two spider bites and contracting golden staph as a result.
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