Nicolas Roche has finished in 13th place in the Elite Men’s Time Trail at the World Championships in Italy today. The Team Saxo-Tinkoff rider has had an outstanding season, demonstrating his form with an impressively strong ride in a competitive field. In an exciting finish the gold medal went to Germany’s Tony Martin, with Bradley Wiggans (GB) pipping Fabian Cancellara (SUI) for Silver. The UCI Road World Championships in Toscana, Italy started this week, and run from the 22nd – 29th September.
With 79 starters in the Elite Men’s TT, Roche was the 44th rider to start. The 57.86km course was relatively flat, with time checks at three points en route. The Irishman, who has been in strong form this season, had a particularly strong middle section of the race, which put him inside his pre-race goal of a top 15 finish.
Speaking after the race, Head Coach Brian Nugent said “as Nicolas was going through the check points, he was consistently in the top 3-4 spots; he rode a great time trial; really strong in the middle section. Nicolas has performed well in the Time Trial stages of Tours this year, so he decided to spend some time preparing for the Worlds. He beat a lot of good time trial specialists out there today.
“The focus is now on the Road Races at the weekend. Nicolas has 4 days to recover for Sunday’s road race.”
Next up for the Irish Team is the Junior Men’s Road Race on Saturday morning; and the Elite Women’s Road Race on Saturday afternoon. The Elite Men’s Road Race takes place on Sunday afternoon. Nugent said “The whole team is in great shape, and up for the road races.”
The Junior Men’s Road Race will be raced over 140km, with Eddie Dunbar, Dylan Foley and Mark Downey flying the flag at 7.30am Irish time. The Elite Women’s Road Race will be run on the same course, with Olivia Dillon and Melanie Spath representing Ireland.
The Championships run from the 22nd – 29th September, in Florence, Italy. Photo courtesy Graham Watson.
RESULTS WEDNESDAY:
Elite Men’s Time Trial
Gold Tony Martin (Germany) 01:05:36:65
Silver Bradley Wiggans (GB) +0:00:46:09
Bronze Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) +0:00:48:34
13th Nicolas Roche (IRELAND) +0:03:13:35
Schedule:
Saturday 28th September:
Junior Men Road Race:
Eddie Dunbar
Dylan Foley
Mark Downey
RESERVE: Matthew Doyle
Elite Women Road Race:
Olivia Dillon
Melanie Spath
Sunday 29th September:
Elite Men Road Race:
Sam Bennett
Matt Brammeier
Daniel Martin
Nicolas Roche
RESERVE: Philip Lavery
Official European Championships Website: http://www.toscana2013.it
Cycling Ireland Website: www.cyclingireland.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cyclingireland
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IreCyclingFed or @irecyclingfed