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Nicolas Roche
Roche, wearing the Irish national champion jersey, at the 2016 Tour of Britain.
Personal information
Full name Nicolas Roche
Nickname Nico
Born (1984-07-03) 3 July 1984 (age 40)
Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Île-de-France, France
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 70 kg (154 lb; 11 st 0 lb)
Team information
Current team
  • NR GRVL
  • Trinity Racing
Role
  • Rider
  • Directeur sportif
Rider type
  • All-rounder
  • Domestique
Major wins
Grand Tours
Vuelta a España
2 individual stages (2013, 2015)
1 TTT stage (2017)

One-day races and Classics

National Road Race Championships (2009, 2016)
National Time Trial Championships (2007, 2016)

Nicolas Roche (born July 3, 1984) is a famous Irish cyclist. He currently competes in gravel cycling for his own team, NR GRVL. Before this, he was a professional road bicycle racer from 2005 to 2021. He rode for seven different teams during his road racing career.

Nicolas won twelve races as a professional road cyclist. This included four titles at the Irish National Cycling Championships. He won the road race twice and the time trial twice. He also won stages at the Vuelta a España in 2013 and 2015. He competed in 24 major cycling races called Grand Tours, finishing 22 of them. He often placed in the top 10 in Grand Tour stages, especially at the Vuelta a España. Nicolas represented Ireland at the Olympics four times and at the UCI Road World Championships eleven times.

After retiring from road cycling in 2021, Nicolas became a directeur sportif (a team manager) for a cycling team. He also works as a commentator for the Tour de France television broadcasts.

Early Life and Family

Nicolas Roche was born in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a town near Paris, France. His father, Stephen Roche, was a famous cycling champion. His mother is Lydia. Nicolas is also related to other cyclists: his uncles Laurence Roche and Neil Martin, and his cousin Dan Martin.

As a child, Nicolas lived in both Ireland and France. He lived in Dublin from 1996 to 1999. During this time, he attended the Lycée Français d'Irlande and Blackrock College. He enjoyed playing soccer and rugby. In 1999, he moved to southern France, where he has lived most of his life since.

Cycling Career Highlights

Starting as a Professional Cyclist

Nicolas became a professional cyclist at the end of 2004. He was one of the youngest riders in the UCI ProTour at the time. Because his father is Irish and his mother is French, Nicolas had dual nationality. In 2005, French officials told him he had to choose one nationality. He chose France because he planned to live there.

However, a few months later, the UCI and Cycling Ireland told him he could race for Ireland and keep both nationalities. He chose to race for Ireland. In his first two years, he often worked as a domestique. This means he helped his team leaders. He also achieved some good results in French races. His first professional win was a stage in the 2004 Tour de l'Avenir. This race is like a mini-Tour de France for riders under 25. He wore the yellow jersey for two days and finished tenth overall.

Time with Credit Agricole (2007–2008)

In 2007, Nicolas rode in the Giro d'Italia. In June, he won the Irish National Time Trial Championships. He also placed fourth in the Road Race Championship. In 2008, he won a stage in a race in Portugal and another in France. He then rode his first Vuelta a España. He performed well, finishing 13th overall. This was a great result for only his second major Grand Tour race.

Racing for Ag2r (2009–2012)

Nicolas joined the Ag2r team in 2009. After winning the Irish National Cycling Championships road race for the first time, he was chosen to ride his first Tour de France. He had a strong debut, finishing 23rd overall and placing in the top ten on five stages.

2010 Season Success

In 2010, Nicolas had a great start to the season. He finished 10th in Paris–Nice and 5th in the Volta a Catalunya. He was chosen as a co-leader for his team in the Tour de France. He finished 15th overall. After the Tour, he led his team at the Vuelta a España. He performed even better here, staying close to the best climbers. He finished 7th overall, which was later changed to 6th. This was the best Grand Tour result for an Irishman since 1988.

2011 and 2012 Seasons

In 2011, injuries and crashes affected Nicolas's season. He still rode the Tour de France and Vuelta a España. In October, he won a stage at the Tour of Beijing. This was his first international win in three years. In 2011, he also published a book called Inside the Peloton, which won an award.

In 2012, Nicolas gave up his French citizenship to become only an Irish national. He finished 10th overall in the Tour de Suisse. He also placed 2nd and 3rd in the Irish National Road Race and Time Trial Championships. He rode the Tour de France, finishing 12th overall. He also represented Ireland at the Olympic Games Road Race.

Joining Tinkoff–Saxo (2013–2014)

In 2013, Nicolas joined the Tinkoff–Saxo team. He mostly worked as a domestique, helping his team leader Alberto Contador. However, he was given a leadership role at the Vuelta a España. On August 25, Nicolas won stage two of the Vuelta. He wore the leader's red jersey for several days. He eventually finished 5th overall in the race, which was his best Grand Tour result ever. He later said this was the highlight of his career.

In 2014, Nicolas won the overall classification of the Route du Sud race. He also won a stage and the points classification. This was his first stage race victory, a race his father also won in 1985.

Time with Team Sky (2015–2016)

In 2015, Nicolas joined Team Sky. On September 10, he won stage 18 of the Vuelta a España in a sprint finish.

In 2016, Nicolas had a difficult start to the season due to spider infections. However, he recovered and finished 2nd overall in the Tour de Yorkshire. In June, he won both the time trial and road race at the Irish National Cycling Championships. This was a great achievement, but he was not chosen for the Tour de France that year.

Later Road Racing Teams (2017–2021)

Nicolas joined the BMC Racing Team for 2017 and 2018. In September 2018, he moved to Team Sunweb for 2019. His role was to help his team leader, Tom Dumoulin, win the Tour de France.

In 2019, Nicolas wore the Red Jersey (leader's jersey) on Stage 2 of the 2019 Vuelta a España. He held it for a few days but crashed out on stage 6. He retired from professional road racing after the Irish National Cycling Championships in October 2021.

Gravel Cycling and Other Roles

In October 2022, Nicolas Roche started his own gravel cycling team called NR GRVL. In May 2023, he finished third in a major gravel race in Australia.

After retiring from road racing, Nicolas also became a directeur sportif (team manager) for a cycling team. He led the team at the 2022 Rás Tailteann race.

Personal Life

Nicolas Roche lives in Monaco. He used to live in Varese, Italy. He was married to Deborah Robles from 2015 to 2017, and they have one child. Nicolas also co-owns a bicycle shop in County Cork, Ireland.

Dancing with the Stars

In 2022, Nicolas Roche appeared on the Irish TV show Dancing With the Stars. He danced with professional dancer Karen Byrne. They were eliminated in the quarter-final, finishing in 6th place.

Performances
Week No. Dance/Song Judges' score Total Result
Redmond Barry Gourounlian
1 Jive / "Blinding Lights" 3 4 4 11 No elimination
2 No dance performed N/A N/A N/A N/A
3 Viennese waltz / "Unplayed Piano" 5 5 6 16 Safe
4 American Smooth / "Singin' in the Rain" 6 6 7 19 Safe
5 Samba / "Fantasy" 5 5 5 15 Safe
6 Quickstep / "Hey Brother" 6 6 7 19 No elimination
7 Waltz / "Love Ain't Here Anymore" 5 6 6 17 Safe
8 Tango / No dance performed N/A N/A N/A N/A Given bye
9 Tango / "Trumpet Tango" 7 7 7 21 Safe
10 Foxtrot / "I Love Paris" 7 7 7 21 Eliminated
Team Dance / "Cuba" 9 9 9 27

Major Achievements

2004
  • 2nd Overall Tour du Loir-et-Cher
  • 3rd Road race, National Road Championships
2005
  • 4th Tour de Vendée
2006
  • 4th Road race, National Road Championships
  • 1st Stage 4 Tour de l'Avenir
2007
  • National Road Championships
    • 1st MaillotIrlanda.PNG Time trial
  • 5th Polynormande
2008
  • 1st Stage 1 GP Internacional Paredes Rota dos Móveis
  • 1st Stage 1 Tour du Limousin
  • 6th Overall Tour Ivoirien de la Paix
2009
  • 1st MaillotIrlanda.PNG Road race, National Road Championships
2010
  • 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
  • 5th Overall Volta a Catalunya
  • 6th Overall Vuelta a España
2011
  • 1st Stage 3 Tour of Beijing
2012
  • National Road Championships
    • 2nd Road race
    • 3rd Time trial
  • 10th Overall Tour de Suisse
2013
  • 5th Overall Vuelta a España
    • 1st Stage 2
    • Held Jersey red.svg (leader's jersey) after Stage 8
  • 5th Clásica de San Sebastián
2014
  • 1st Jersey orange.svg Overall Route du Sud
    • 1st Stage 2
  • 5th Overall Tour of Britain
2015
  • 1st Stage 18 Vuelta a España
  • 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tour de Romandie
2016
  • National Road Championships
    • 1st MaillotIrlanda.PNG Road race
    • 1st MaillotIrlanda.PNG Time trial
  • 2nd Overall Abu Dhabi Tour
  • 2nd Overall Tour de Yorkshire
2017
  • Vuelta a España
    • 1st Stage 1 (TTT)
  • 3rd Overall Tour of Guangxi
2018
  • 4th Japan Cup
  • 5th Overall Arctic Race of Norway
2019
  • 10th Overall Tour de Suisse
  • Vuelta a España
    • Held Jersey red.svg (leader's jersey) after Stages 2–4
2020
  • National Road Championships
    • 2nd Road race
    • 2nd Time trial
2021
  • 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships

Grand Tour Performance Timeline

This table shows Nicolas Roche's overall finishing positions in the three biggest cycling races: the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España.

Grand Tour 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Pink jersey Giro d'Italia 123 30 24 DNF 59
Yellow jersey Tour de France 22 14 25 12 40 39 35 33 45 64
golden jersey/red jersey Vuelta a España 13 6 16 12 5 26 14 40 DNF
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Nicolas Roche para niños

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