Roche follows father's footsteps

CYCLING:NICOLAS ROCHE yesterday took the best Irish Grand Tour result since his father Stephen's performance in the 1993 Tour de France.

The 24-year-old finished safely in the main bunch at the end of the Vuelta a España, placing 13th overall. The result was by far the best of his professional career and equalled that finishing position his father achieved in his final tour.

The final stage saw the 131 riders left in the race travel 102.2 kilometres from San Sebastián de los Reyes to Madrid, and was won by Matti Breschel (Team CSC-Saxo Bank) in a big bunch sprint. Roche wheeled across the line in 33rd place, being classified in the same time as all of the main contenders. He ended the three-week tour 13 minutes and 41 seconds behind overall winner Alberto Contador (Astana), and was just six seconds off the time of the 12th-placed rider, Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Caisse d'Epargne).

The Irish Crédit Agricole rider performed far better than expected beforehand, placing second, fifth and ninth on stages, as well as taking seven other top 20 placings. These included 14th in the mountain stage to the Angliru, one of the toughest climbs in cycling, as well as 14th on Saturday's hillclimb time trial.