Roche confirmed for tour

Zipp101

Delighted for him yesterday.

Can't wait to see the jersey!

RobFowl

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/

smithslist

good news indeed, was hoping he would get in once he won nationals.

It will get more exposure now and may help the Tour of Ireland in August (Here's hoping)

RobFowl

ROCHE CONFIRMED FOR THE TOUR DE FRANCE
By Shane Stokes
Jun 29, 2009,

[EMAIL="?subject=ROCHE%20CONFIRMED%20FOR%20THE%20TOUR%20DE%20FRANCE&body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishcycling.com%2Fpublish%2Fnews%2Fart_4087.shtml"]Email this article[/EMAIL]

© Shane Stokes Less than 24 hours after taking the Irish road race championship, Nicolas Roche has been confirmed by his Ag2r La Mondiale team as taking part in this year’s Tour de France.

The 24 year old will join his first cousin Daniel Martin (Garmin Slipstream) in the prestigious race, with the two young riders both making their debut in the three week contest. It is a huge boost to their careers and also to Irish cycling; Mark Scanlon was the last Irishman to take part in the race five years ago, and it is a full seventeen years since more than one Irishman has competed in the race.

Stephen Roche, Sean Kelly and Martin Early rode the Tour in 1992. Stephen Roche won the race outright in 1987, and retired after the 1993 edition.

The 2009 Tour de France will begin with a time trial in Monaco on Saturday.

“I got the phone call half an hour ago. I am happy, very pleased to go,” Roche told Irishcycling.com this morning. “The last 24 hours have been really good for my morale, with this news and the Irish championships victory. I was still a bit nervous [about making the Tour team] until I got the official call...anything could have happened until I got confirmation.

“My main doubt was that I didn’t perform as they wanted me to do in the Dauphiné. I was pretty sure about making the Tour team until the Dauphiné, then I didn’t ride as I wanted there. I was tired from a training camp the week before.”

Roche said that he didn’t have much time yet to think about the race, but gave an indication of his likely role and goals.

“My person ambition would be to go for stages, of course. We have Efimkin and Dessel for the GC. I will probably be working for them and also try to go for breakaways and a stage win...that would be my goal, to try something on the intermediate stages.”

He is currently back at his base in Italy. Tomorrow he will fly to Marseille to ride the team time trial course with the other eight Ag2r La Mondiale riders, working on that Tuesday and Wednesday. They will then drive to Monaco on Wednesday evening.

The location of the first two stages will add further motivation. “I lived eight years between Cannes and Monaco...Sunday’s stage is basically my training ride, so it is pretty good,” he sai

Dodge

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_4087.shtml

Might as well give Shane the link too...