Roche best as Irish team disappoint

Nicolas Roche was best of the three-man Irish team after six and a half hours in the saddle in the elite road race at the World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, yesterday.

Roche crossed the line in 26th, seven seconds behind winner Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland with Australia’s Simon Gerrans second ahead of Spain’s Alejandro Valverde.

A crash with just over two laps remaining forced Irish team leader and medal contender Dan Martin to change his bike and he lost contact with the bunch at a time when all three Irish were still in contention.