Roche rides into history books in dominant fashion

NICHOLAS ROCHE moved into the history books on Saturday when he became only the fourth rider in 25 years to lead the M. Donnelly Junior Tour from start to finish.

Nicolas, the son of 1987 Tour de France winner Stephen Roche, rode strongly during the stage to secure his hold on the mountains jersey and, more importantly, finished safely to secure yellow.

Yesterday’s sixth stage was won by Welshman Geraint Thomas, who broke clear inside the final 1 kilometre rise to the finish and held off the pursuit of the main bunch. Stena Ireland rider Páidí O’Brien was best of the home riders in 5th place on the stage, while Roche crossed the line arms aloft in 13th. O’Brien’s team mate Theo Hardwick also finished in the main bunch to end the race 3rd overall and win the first year junior classification.

Roche took the race lead in the opening prologue and fortified his grip on the race with a dominant display on stage 2. Echoing his father’s time trialling ability, the 18-year-old broke clear with 30 miles remaining and opened up a solid lead on the bunch behind.

He reached the finish line 30 seconds clear of the next rider home and then rode strongly for the remainder of the week to make sure of a fine win. He has joined Aidan Duff, Kieran Page and former Junior world champion Mark Scanlon in the illustrious group of riders to lead the race from start to finish.

“It is great to take this race as it is one of my best wins”, Roche said.

“Winning means a lot to me, it is a big race and had a strong field.”