NICOLAS ROCHE

BMC’s Irish climber on his love af fair with the Vuelta and his family crest tattoo

What’s your favourite race?

The Vuelta. One where you tend to go good tends to be one that you enjoy. I think my revelation as a GC-wannabe rider came at the Vuelta, in 2008. Every year I went back there with all these high goals and I managed to pull out some of my biggest results there. I like the heat, I like the roads, I like the climbs – they suit me better than those in the Tour or the Giro. It’s a combination: race, plus parcours, plus the time of the year – if the Vuelta was in April I’d probably hate it.

What’s your favourite climb?

Most of the climbs have amazing scenery, regardless of what part of the world you are. It could be one of the climbs in Ireland in the Wicklow Mountains where you just have a very, very different scenery than Col d’Èze, which is also beautiful. When you’re on top of Col d’Èze, you have a view all the way almost to Saint-Raphaël, which is 150km away. Sometimes you can even see all the way to Corsica.

Who is the best domestique in the peloton?

There are a lot of good domestiques, and that can vary from riders who dedicate themselves to the sprints, or others who do it in the mountains. At some point, the rider who rides first, is he a better or worse domestique than the one who rides last? That’s a question that I couldn’t answer.

Who’s your funniest team-mate?

There’s a fine border between being funny and a pain in the arse or being this silly joker! I don’t know if it’s age or not but I have less patience around the funny guys. Some things they find funny I don’t find funny.

What’s your secret talent?

Social skills. I think I always manage to avoid an argument if I can. I’ve been in the bunch now for so long, I’ve had to learn to integrate from one team to another; languages, to origin of teams to different cultures.

What result are you proudest of in your career up to now?

The one that stands out the most is my victory in the Vuelta in 2013. It was just the biggest relief of my career. It was like, yes, finally. I had so many seconds and thirds over the stages since my first year.

What’s the best prize you’ve ever won at a race?

I didn’t win it, but my team-mate once won the mountains prize in a town called Vertova in northern Italy. They were famous for making mattresses, and he won one. We had to drive back with a mattress on the roof. Luckily enough, we had a van and we just tied a rope around it.

What’s the story behind one of your scars?

I have one on my ribs from probably the scariest crash I ever had. It was in the Dauphiné in 2011. I was on top of a climb, taking a fresh bottle from the soigneur. On the descent I had a drink, put it back, and when I put my hand on the handlebar it slipped. I came down in the middle of the bunch, at 80k an hour. I cut myself from my ankle all the way up, underneath my ribs all the way to my chin. This scar took ages to heal and I didn’t like having a big white semi-pinkish scar on my ribs, so I got a big tattoo on my ribs to cover it up – the family crest.

"I came down in the middle of the bunch, at 80k an hour. I cut myself from my ankle all the way up to my chin"