Year after year, history has repeated itself in the best way possible for Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing Team) at the Vuelta a España, with consistently successful results for the Irishman. And, so far, 2017 is not looking any different.
The 33-year-old currently lies third overall, at 13 seconds from race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky). After BMC’s win in the opening team time trial, Roche has – barring the lung-bustingly steep ascent to Santa Lucía, where he lost 11 seconds to Froome – been in the front group on all of the mountainous stage finishes.
“So far so good. The stages we’ve done are the ones that suit me better – the ones where I struggle will be like the Angliru which is that bit longer,” Roche told Cyclingnews before stage six.
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“The Vuelta’s a race I look forward to every year, one that suits me and I know how to be ready for it. Some years it works better than others, I had several crashes in 2015 but still managed to win a stage and I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.”
Compared to other seasons, Roche says, “my form’s very similar to other years, although I think this time round there’s a higher level of GC contenders than other Vueltas. You just have to look at the results sheet to see how many are here.”
His objective, with or without the stiffer opposition, is to go for the general classification. “I could also say ‘all right, I’m in good condition, I’m going to go for breakaways and try for a stage’. But at this point in my career, whilst it’s important to win races, I’ve been riding in support for the last couple of years and I think it’s important to show I can still do GC.”
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