Roche seals first stage race victory

Cycling: Ireland’s Nicolas Roche has won his first stage race as a professional rider, after he claimed victory in the Route du Sud in France yesterday.

The Tinkoff-Saxo rider went into yesterday’s third and final stage with the leader’s jersey and emerged victorious.

“It was a magnificent feeling crossing the finish line and taking my first general classification win after three days of very hard racing,” a delighted Roche said.

“It was enjoyable experiencing my team-mates so dedicated and determined to support me and of course, this is their victory as well.

“This was a confidence-booster before taking on the Tour de France in a couple of weeks so obviously I’m looking forward to that.”

The presence of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in second place overall yesterday, 45 seconds down on Roche (who won Saturday’s summit finish stage to Val Louron), meant the leader and his team needed to be on their toes for the 179.4km trek from Saint-Gaudens to Castres

But with the main climb of the day coming too far from the finish to be in any way decisive in breaking the general classification contenders apart, Tinkoff-Saxo rode very well in mopping up the eight-man early breakaway.

Stage honours went to Valverde’s team-mate Adrian Malori but Roche, safely in the main pack, ran out overall winner won by his father Stephen in 1985.

Meanwhile, rising Irish junior star Eddie Dunbar notched a career-best result in the Trofeo Karlsberg three-day stage race in Germany over the weekend, the Corkman finishing second overall at nine seconds.

The reigning Junior Tour of Ireland champion was fifth in Friday’s opening stage, seventh in both stages on Saturday while yesterday, he finished in the main bunch.

The race was a dress-rehearsal for the European Championships in Switzerland next month and Dunbar, showing this kind of form, will go there as one of the favourites.