Roche in position to fulfil winning ambitions

CYCLING: IRELAND'S NICOLAS Roche continued to ride strongly on yesterday's stage of the Vuelta a España, picking up his third high placing this week.

Having finished sixth and eighth on stages three and four, he was 10th yesterday into Murcia, making a strong burst despite being badly placed prior to the sprint to the line.

Quickest of the 70-man group was Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Cervélo Test Team), who beat Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) and the rest of the reduced peloton to win stage six. Roche finished in the same time and remained an excellent 11th overall.

Race leader Philippe Gilbert rode strongly on the day’s final climb, the Alto de la Cresta del Gallo, and was never put under real pressure.

In fact, after a long-distance breakaway group containing Markus Eichler (Milram), Juan Javier Estrada (Andalucia) and Freddy Bichot (Bbox) was caught on the way up, he clipped away on the descent to chase down lone attacker Filippo Pozzato (Team Katusha). The two worked together for a while, but they, and subsequent aggressor Dmitry Fofonov (Astana) were reeled in.

Gilbert led out the sprint and netted sixth, holding his 10-second advantage over Igor Anton (Euskaltel Euskadi) and Joaquin Rodriguez (Team Katusha) in the general classification.

Roche remains 58 seconds back, but could well move up in the mountains ahead.

Roche spoke in recent days about his plans for the race, saying that it was time to win a stage in a Grand Tour.

“I think I have shown that I can do almost everything, but one of the things I haven’t done yet is winning. That is something that I need to work on badly,” he said.

“I can sprint, I can climb, I can do good time-trials, I can race for GC, I can go okay in Classics, but the only thing I can’t do is win.

“Okay, I have won five races in my career, but I have eight, nine, maybe even 10 second places. I need to win more.”