‘Liberating’ Vuelta win for Roche

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche took the biggest win of his career yesterday when he won a thrilling stage two of the Vuelta A Espana from Pontevedra to Alto Do Monte Da Groba.

The SaxoBank-Tinkoff rider had two seconds to spare on Spaniard Daniel Moreno (Katusha) in second with Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) rounding out the top three.

Roche went agonisingly close to taking the race leader’s red jersey but came up short by eight seconds, but that won’t bother him a jot as he celebrates the country’s second Grand Tour stage win for 2013, after his cousin Dan Martin claimed his first Tour de France stage win last month.