Roche must wait on Tour decision

CYCLING COLUMN:FOLLOWING SOME strong performances this year, Irish rider Nicolas Roche is hoping that he will be selected for the Crédit Agricole team for the Tour de France.

The 23-year-old won the opening stage of the Internacional Paredes Rota dos Móveis in Portugal on May 15th, and has had several other good showings this season.

He is next due to take part in the Tour de Suisse, which runs from June 14th to 22nd, and will then ride the Irish national championships.

He'll know only then if he is going to take part in the Tour.

"It will be really, really last-minute," he said. "The decision is usually made on the night of the national championships because the team will take their best rider from the French race.

"We will have the Tour de Suisse and the Dauphiné Libéré first, then the national championships.

"For the French guys on the team, it's usually the nationals which determine if they go or not; for the rest of us, it will be down to how we go in the Tour de Suisse or the Dauphiné.

"I am one of the guys on the shortlist, but nobody is sure who will be there. I know I have done well this year, I have got results when I needed to. I have won, and also shown I was capable of being there in the hard races.

"The pay-off would be going to the Tour and also finding a good contract for next season."

In other news, Daniel Lloyd was best placed of the An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly riders on yesterday's second stage of the Tour of Belgium.

Last week the Briton rode strongly in support of Stephen Gallagher and helped him win the FBD Insurance Rás on Sunday; this week, Lloyd is the protected rider on the team and he is hoping to achieve a high overall placing.

He was 26th in the bunch sprint yesterday and heads into today's third stage 32nd overall. He is 11 seconds behind overall leader Kenny Dehaes (Topsport Vlaanderen).

Meanwhile, Philip Deignan was 122nd on yesterday's 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia, and is 74th overall.

Jens Voigt (CSC) won the stage, while Alberto Contador (Astana) continues to lead the general classification.

Finally, Heather Boyle (Ravens) beat Róisín Kennedy (Lucan) and Jenn O'Reilly (Ravens) to win the third round of the Boot Inn League on Wednesday.

FIXTURES

Friday-Sunday: Ras Dún na nGall, Killybegs.

Saturday: Track training, Sundrive Road, 11am. Christy McManus Memorial, sign on at Roundwood GAA complex, 11am start.

Sunday: Mt Kennedy 10-mile time trial, starts 9am at Woodgreen.

Sunday-Monday: IVCA two-day, stage one at 9.15am in Batterstown.