Nicholas Roche interview

GyatsoLa
GyatsoLa Posts: 667
edited February 2010 in Pro race
Good Shane Stokes interview with Nicholas Roche here:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/spo ... 74455.html

He makes some very interesting comments about the reaction of the peleton to returning dopers. Quite hopeful ones I think.

Comments

  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Very interesting about what he did with Bennati. It was out of order for them to abuse him like that (however he shouldn't have gone for 2nd as discussed in a recent thread on riders pulling weight...although maybe he went just cos of the abuse). It was also out of order for him to be violent.

    Annoyingly there aren't that many quotes from Roche himself.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • AndyRubio
    AndyRubio Posts: 880
    Roche found himself outside the Liquigas team bus, waiting for Bennati. In front of the assembled media, Roche grabbed him by the throat, told him to show some respect, and if he didn’t understand that the priority was the yellow jersey on Roche’s team, then he didn’t understand cycling; the message being, don’t mess with Roche.

    I'm now a fan.
    My hour on the plinth
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    Like father, like son - the Roche family seem to have a history of going toe-to-toe with overpriced Italian stars.

    I must try and find the link, but Roche had a diary in, I think, the Irish Independent for the Tour last year - he spent one column describing that stage with Bennati. For a rider who make a point of the importance of his religion in his life, Benna appeared to behave in a less than Christian fashion on the road.
    And the rider that told Roche the following day how he understood Nicolas' frustrations but he should let it go? - Lance!

    I think Nicolas is more likely to be the next Kelly, rather than the next Roche - though either one would be perfectly acceptable.
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    A lot of people don't realise his old man was properly hard. I reckon he's a proper chip off the old block.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • nick hanson
    nick hanson Posts: 1,655
    Timoid. wrote:
    A lot of people don't realise his old man was properly hard. I reckon he's a proper chip off the old block.
    Yep,he always had a ready smile for the Journo's,but when the crunch came,he didn't back down,& fought his corner.
    Witness the Giro he won.
    Visentini ( his co leader on the Carrera team) was in the leaders jersey,In Italy,With Partisan Italian suporters,& Roche attacked to get the Maglia Rose.
    Rode on through plenty of abuse from the crowd (& most in his team) to hammer Visentini & take the victory.
    I have the double vhs tape covering his career,& some riders interviewed seemed to give the impression that the face he put on in public wasn't the manner they encountered in the peloton.
    Still,nice guys don't generally win much,& he Did win some BIG events
    so many cols,so little time!
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Roche is an interesting rider, not quite getting the results he could, he's got great talent. He's almost fluent in Italian and I wonder if a move to an Italian squad would be good, failing that a move to the likes of Sky, Garmin or Saxo.
  • Tusher
    Tusher Posts: 2,762
    He'd fit into Garmin very well.
  • Dazza2280
    Dazza2280 Posts: 156
    i think he'd fit into Sky pretty well, i only saw him really in last years Tour, but he was always making breaks and going off the front of the peloton, Sky could do with a break away rider, they prob need an aggressive rider.
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Dazza2280 wrote:
    i think he'd fit into Sky pretty well, i only saw him really in last years Tour, but he was always making breaks and going off the front of the peloton, Sky could do with a break away rider, they prob need an aggressive rider.

    Dunno if he'll want to fetch and carry for Wiggins and EBH.I think he wants to be some sort of a leader in his own right.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • Splottboy
    Splottboy Posts: 3,695
    Watched young Roche kick arse in the Jnr Tour of Ireland afew years ago.

    He was a Man amongst boys. Talented, fit, fast, good looking. I HATE HIM.

    Nah, just kidding, he's a great rider. I'm just lealous.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    Splottboy wrote:
    Watched young Roche kick ars* in the Jnr Tour of Ireland afew years ago.

    He was a Man amongst boys. Talented, fit, fast, good looking. I HATE HIM.

    Nah, just kidding, he's a great rider. I'm just lealous.

    He's got a really hot girlfriend too (according to Haussler in one of those Cervelo videos)
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • aarw
    aarw Posts: 448
    Ex-girlfriend.

    Pretty sure Sky were talking to him last year but AG2r put in an offer he couldn't refuse for 2010.....apparently. :wink:
  • eh
    eh Posts: 4,854
    He makes some very interesting comments about the reaction of the peloton to returning dopers.

    He'd better tell his dad to stay away from races as well then.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    eh wrote:
    He makes some very interesting comments about the reaction of the peloton to returning dopers.
    He'd better tell his dad to stay away from races as well then.
    Ouch!

    But Papa Roche was riding in a different era, a time when (almost) anything goes. Today's riders are expected not to dope, at to at least express remorse when returning after a ban.
  • pat1cp
    pat1cp Posts: 766
    Some Pikey in the boy maybe?? :shock: :?
    http://tinyurl.com/332edp
    http://tinyurl.com/2nu7r3
  • Vino2007
    Vino2007 Posts: 340
    Yea cos everyone in Ireland must have "Pikey" phenotypes if they're headstrong :roll:
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    Papa Roach. Good one.
    Le Blaireau (1)

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