CYCLING:ALTHOUGH NICOLAS Roche's chances of a top ten finish in this year's Tour de France took a big blow on Saturday when he lost time on the mountain stage to Plateau de Beille, the Irishman said yesterday evening he was determined to ride aggressively in the days ahead and see what transpired.

He dropped from 11th to 18th overall when he cracked on the climb and finished 33rd, six minutes 47 seconds back. “I was really disappointed, really p*ssed off,” he said. “There’s not much I can do about it . . . I think it was down to everything accumulating, including tiredness.”

His preparations for the Tour were compromised due to three periods of injury in the past eight months, including a bad crash in June.

Roche is ten minutes 56 seconds behind overall leader Thomas Voeckler, and has decided to change his approach: “There’ll be no tactics . . . I’ll just see how it goes, day after day,” he said.

He had been riding conservatively until now, due partly to uncertainties about his form, but will take a double or quits approach henceforth. “There are all mountain stages ahead. I will just fight every day and try to get into the break on one of the stages.”

Aside from hoping such a move would build a sufficient lead for the riders present to be able to fight for a stage win, Roche also remembers such a move paying off three years ago. “I did it in the 2008 Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), so will try that again. I got clear then, gained time, and moved back up the general classification. It might be possible to get some time back.”

Roche finished 20th on yesterday’s stage to Montpellier, in the same time as stage winner Mark Cavendish.