Pain in Spain as Nicolas Roche endures uphill struggle

Nicolas Roche endured his worst day of this year’s Vuelta A Espana so far after losing over 28 minutes on the 16th stage from Luarca to the summit finish at Ermita de Alba yesterday.

The Irishman was 78th across the line and dropped down to 30th overall and is now 44:22 down on new race leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).

The Spanish rider entered the stage one second adrift of overnight leader Fabio Aru (Astana) but when the latter crossed the line two seconds adrift of Rodriguez he lost the race leader’s red jersey.