Nicolas Roche takes eighth in European time trial championships

Following on from a strong showing in the Tour of Britain, Nicolas Roche finished an impressive eighth in the European time trial championships in Brittany, France on Thursday.

Roche has clocked up some good time trial performances in recent months. He dominated the Irish national championships in June and was then eighth against the clock in the Tour of Britain last week, en route to sixth overall.

His championship performance saw him complete the undulating 45.5 kilometre course just one minute 14 seconds behind the race winner Jonathan Castroviejo of Spain. He was 35 seconds off the bronze medal.

“I came here with good motivation,” he said. “I set myself the goal of a top ten, with was something that was achievable without dreaming too much. I was really happy and excited once I kept hearing the time splits, even though I knew there were 25 guys to come behind me. But I just felt I was in the right rhythm.”

He said that small tweaks to his time trial position earlier this year have helped him perform well. He also believes that enforced time off the bike due to pneumonia in August means he is fresher than he would otherwise be at this time of the year.

Family commitments mean he will miss Sunday’s European elite road race championships. His end of season targets are the Italian one day events Milan-Turin and Il Lombardia.

Also in action was 2015 national time trial champion Ryan Mullen. He wasn’t comfortable on the championship course and was 22nd.

In the women’s event, Anna Turvey was 22nd, while under 23 rider Josie Knight placed 51st.

The highest placing thus far by the Irish team was Eddie Dunbar’s sixth place in Wednesday’s under 23 time trial.

The Irish squad will also line out in the road races between Friday and Sunday.