Roche ready to achieve career-long Tour top ten ambition

Nicolas Roche and Daniel Martin, Tour de France 2012, stage five

Most eyes are on Tour de France maillot jaune Bradley Wiggins and teammate Chris Froome, but don't forget that there's another man from Britain and Ireland sitting in the top ten: Ag2r-La Mondiale leader Nicholas Roche.

First, the Irishman dodged the crashes in the first week. "I used all my bad luck last year, when I had seven crashes," he reflected wryly.

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