Roche finishes brilliant Vuelta ride in fifth place

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche notched a career-best Grand Tour finish securing fifth place overall at the end of the Vuelta a Espana in Madrid yesterday.

The SaxoBank-Tinkoff rider (inset) was just over seven minutes off the time of winner Chris Horner, and can take enormous confidence going forward, having battled gamely throughout the three-week Tour while also taking a stage win — his first ever in a Grand Tour.

American Horner became the oldest ever winner of the Vuelta yesterday when he clinched victory at the age of 41. Horner is eight years older than 1994 champion Tony Rominger and five years older than Firmin Lambot, who won the Tour de France in 1922, aged 36. The RadioShack rider maintained his 37-second lead over Giro d’Italia winner Vincenzo Nibali on a final stage won by Australian Michael Matthews (Orica GreenEdge) in a bunch sprint.