Nicolas Roche
Nationality: Irish
Date of birth: May 21, 1985
Height: 178cm
Weight: 70kg
Team: Sunweb
Nicolas Roche seems born to be a cyclist.
Son of Stephen Roche, Ireland's only Tour de France winner, Nicolas was also eligible for France through his mother, making him fluent in the unofficial language of the peloton. His cousin is fellow former Irish road race champion Dan Martin and his godfather is Vuelta a Espana, Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo winner Sean Kelly. But that's not to say success has come easily to Roche.
Roche turned professional in 2004, coming third in the Irish national road race championship at the age of 19, before chalking up his first win as a pro at the 2006 Tour de l'Avenir and impressing from the breakaway at that year's World Championships in Salzburg. Off the back of those performances, Roche signed with Credit-Agricole for 2007, finishing 122nd at the Giro in his first Grand Tour, winning the Irish national time trial championship the same year. The Irishman finished a remarkable 13th in his second Grand Tour, the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, just 1:45 off the top ten.
He moved to Ag2r-La Mondiale the following year, winning the Irish national championship road race before making his debut at the Tour de France, where he finished a solid 23th on GC. Roche had a string of impressive results in 2010, finishing tenth in Paris-Nice, fifth in the Volta a Catalunya in preperation for the Tour de France, coming 15th, and the Vuelta a Espana, where he finished sixth, after second-placed Ezequiel Mosquera's result was annulled.
Despite early season injuries, Roche finished 26th at the Tour and 16th at the Vuelta in 2011, further establishing himself as one of the top GC riders on the World Tour.
Roche left Tinkoff-Saxo for Team Sky after the 2014 season and soon became an integral part of the British team's Grand Tour challenge, finishing as Sky's third highest-placed rider (35th) as Froome won his second Tour de France and finishing 26th overall during Froome's abortive attempt at a Tour-Vuelta double, taking stage 18 in the process.
Roche left Sky (now Team Ineos) to race for BMC Racing in 2017, staying on into the 2018 season when he raced the Vuelta a España as part of the winning stage one TTT team.
Then for 2019 season, he signed with Team Sunweb. Roche took the red jersey on stage 2 of the Vuelta and held it until stage 5. Unfortunately, he had to abandon due to a crash the following day. He has since extended his contract with Team Sunweb, where he is a valuable domestique and can ride in support of GC ambitions.
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Nicolas Roche appointed sports director of Ireland road racing program
The recently retired Irishman will also mentor the junior and U23 teams
By Jonny Long Published
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‘There were other problems when I started,' says Nicolas Roche, 'it was pre-Puerto and I was getting my ass whupped every weekend with people cheating’
As the retired pro eases into retirement he weighs up what to do next
By Jonny Long Published
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Nicolas Roche on move from Sky to BMC: 'I'll be able to express myself again'
Irish champion Nicolas Roche says that he will be helping Richie Porte at the Tour de France and riding for himself at the Vuelta a España with new team BMC
By Gregor Brown Published
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Nicolas Roche heads up BMC's squad for 'toughest race of year', Il Lombardia
Irishman Nicolas Roche is hoping to build on solid results leading up to the final Monument of 2017 on Saturday
By Nigel Wynn Published
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Bad weather delivers blow to Nicolas Roche and Esteban Chaves Vuelta hopes
Chaves sat second and Roche third before the start of the stage but both lost significant time to Chris Froome on the Vuelta a España's biggest summit finish yet
By Gregor Brown Published
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Nicolas Roche describes finding himself in a flowerbed at the Tour de France
Nicolas Roche ended up in a flowerbed after catapulting from his bike on stage five of the Tour de France
By Stuart Clarke Published
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Tour de France 2020: Nicolas Roche shares pictures of wounds caused by cassette in stage 10 crash
Sunweb’s Nicolas Roche was one of the many riders caught in crashes during a stressful stage 10 of the Tour De France.
By Alex Ballinger Published
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'Valverde's attack killed me': Nicolas Roche eyeing Vuelta a España top 10 finish after losing red
The Irishman couldn't hold on to the race lead in the first summit finish of the 2019 Vuelta a España
By Gregor Brown Published
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'I don’t like sitting in the bunch waiting to get dropped': Roche looking to animate Giro d'Italia with GC ambitions
Nicolas Roche will jointly lead BMC with Rohan Dennis in his return to the Giro d'Italia
By Sophie Smith Published
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Nicolas Roche takes first stage race overall win
Route du Sud victory is first general classification win for Irishman Nicolas Roche, as he heads into the Tour de France
By Nigel Wynn Published
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Team Sky reveal Nicolas Roche's new Irish national champion's kit
The British team also revealed the skin suit of new Czech national time trial champion Leopold König
By Richard Windsor Published
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'This story isn't just about me having strong legs': The trials and tribulations of Nicholas Roche and the Vuelta a España
The Irishman shares the pain and the passion of riding his favourite Grand Tour over the years
By Jonny Long Published
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Nicolas Roche: 'The move wasn't planned, I was just improvising and seeing how it went'
Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) says that gut-feeling paved the way to the biggest Vuelta a España gain of the day in stage 10 to Alhama de Murcia.
By Gregor Brown Published
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Nicolas Roche hospitalised for a second time with infected spider bite
Irish Team Sky pro Nicolas Roche bitten again by a venomous spider in Australia, and ends up in hospital just weeks after a similar incident
By Nigel Wynn Published
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Nicolas Roche joins Sky for 2015
Irishman Nicolas Roche joins British WorldTour team Sky, along with Andy Fenn, Leopold Konig, Lars Petter Nordhaug and Wout Poels
By Nigel Wynn Published
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Nicolas Roche extends contract with Sunweb to keep racing until 2021
The Irishman will now take his number of years as a professional up to 17
By Jonny Long Published
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Nicholas Roche taking his chance to shine at the Vuelta a España
The Irishman is impressing with his performances as Sky give him the freedom to attack the 2015 Vuelta, but how far can he go?
By Stephen Puddicombe Published
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‘Like the first day of school’: Pros react as they’re allowed to ride outside for first time in seven weeks
While riders in the UK have been able to ride outside, plenty of pros have been trapped inside their homes over the last few weeks due to coronavirus lockdown rules in European countries.
By Alex Ballinger Published
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'Contador targets opponents' weaknesses, Froome rides his own race'
Sky's Nicolas Roche compares two of the leading contenders for this year's Tour de France
By Gregor Brown Published
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Tanel Kangert attacks to win stage three of the Abu Dhabi Tour, all but sealing the overall win
Nicolas Roche could not stay with the Astana rider, whose stage win should see him take the overall victory
By Stephen Puddicombe Published
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Nicolas Roche: Alberto Contador still has a lot to give
Nico Roche believes Alberto Contador's best is behind him, while he aims to take-up a leadership role of his own in 2017 with BMC
By Richard Windsor Published
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Nicolas Roche relishing opportunity at Team Sunweb to work for Tom Dumoulin
Roche leaves BMC Racing to join the German team in 2019
By Gregor Brown Published
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‘This is one of the biggest disappointments of my career’: Nicolas Roche devastated after abandoning Vuelta a España 2019
Nicolas Roche said abandoning the 2019 Vuelta a España is one of the biggest disappointments of his career.
By Alex Ballinger Published
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Nicolas Roche to leave Team Sky for BMC, say insiders
Inside sources say that Irish national champion Nicolas Roche will join American team BMC Racing for the 2017 season, leaving Team Sky
By Gregor Brown Published
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"Chris Froome said I could join Vuelta a España attack," says Sky's Nicolas Roche
Irishman reveals that a crucial mistake in the final 500m cost him a possible stage win
By Gregor Brown Published
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Nicolas Roche's training interrupted by hospital visit after infected spider bite
Team Sky's Nicolas Roche forced to visit hospital in Singapore for treatment after spider bite became infected
By Sophie Smith Published
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Thomas Voeckler wins Tour de Yorkshire overall after stage three victory
Thomas Voeckler wins final two-up sprint from Nicolas Roche in exciting finale to 2016 Tour de Yorkshire in Scarborough
By Nigel Wynn Published
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Nicolas Roche fighting hard for stage wins in Vuelta a España
Irishman Nicolas Roche has been given 'freedom' by Team Sky to try his chances for a stage win during the Vuelta a Espana
By Gregor Brown Published
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There are more important issues than ‘ridiculous’ UCI sock checks at Tour de France 2019, says Nicolas Roche
Nicolas Roche has said cycling faces issues more important than the “ridiculous” UCI sock checks being carried out at the Tour de France.
By Alex Ballinger Published