Competing in his debut Tour has allowed Nicolas Roche to step out from shadows of his famous father, writes Lionel Birnie

Although in his fifth year as a professional, and riding for his third team in that time, it was only this summer that people stopped referring to Nicolas Roche as 'the son of Stephen', the feted winner of cycling's Triple Crown in 1987.

Roche Jnr is still only 25 but went into his debut Tour as one of the fancied outsiders.

Thirteenth place in the Vuelta a Espana the previous season showed his potential.

As it turned out, the Irish champion had to lay down his own ambitions when his team, Ag2r, held the yellow jersey for eight days. He finished second at Besancon and fourth at Bourg Saint Maurice, after that thrillingly memorable pursuit race down the Col du Bernard Petit Saint Bernard. "Now I know I can win a stage of the Tour de France," he said afterwards.

During the Tour, Roche wrote a column for the Irish Independent. It was thoughtful, outspoken and offered an insight beyond simply explaining how hard the climbs were and how strong the other riders looked.

We caught up with him again to ask him his thoughts on life as a professional cyclist.

The difference between being an amateur and a professional...

"When you're an amateur, you're riding your bike, pursuing the dream. You're trying to get results that'll help you get that professional contract. There's not much in the way of teamwork. You maybe will ride for a team-mate in a stage race, but it's not a big part of what you do. When you turn professional, the pressure is different.

"You've just spent a year as one of the strongest amateurs, and then you turn pro and you're back to zero. Then you try to get your own results to prove you deserve another contract. Turning pro is one thing -- staying in it is another."

Working for the team...

"There is a different satisfaction to working for a team-mate. There are lots of different roles to play in a team, and sometimes when you're working for someone else you may get a chance for yourself. If your job one day is to get in a break, you may get in the break that goes all the way to the finish and gives you a chance to win.

"There are opportunities for yourself, even if you are sacrificing yourself. When I was riding for Thor Hushovd at Credit Agricole, it was such a buzz because even if he didn't win, he'd still be third or fourth, which is a great result. In the two years I rode for him, I never got to go for the sprints myself, but because I was riding for Thor, in the last 20km it showed me what the finish is all about, and it built my confidence."

Commentators sometimes make it sound too easy...

"In the Four Days of Dunkirk a few years ago, I got pretty angry with the commentator on French TV. Three days in a row I was in the breakaway, and the commentator said all I was trying to do was get some easy TV time. Well, it's not easy to catch the first breakaway. You're not up there for the TV coverage; you're up there because it's your job. If your team manager says he wants someone in the break, then a couple of guys will mark every attack early on.

"Then, if you get in the break, it's because you were in the one that happened to stick. Fortunately, Jacky Durand was also commentating and he was able to explain a bit, but it's too easy to say, 'Oh, he just wants to get his sponsor on TV'. It's not like that. People watching on TV can't appreciate half of what is going on in the bike race because so much goes unseen.

"I saw a documentary about the Columbia team and Mark Cavendish, and the work they do preparing the sprint. I mean, I'm in the races and I don't see half the stuff that goes on. I was really admiring what I was seeing on TV because he showed exactly what his team was doing and why they were doing it. From 50km out, every guy had a job to do. It's crazy work and they do it every time there's a chance to win. I have such respect for the guys who do that work and don't get recognised. It's the same for the guys who drop back to get bottles or pace the leader back after he's stopped for a pee. That work really builds up over three weeks."

Riding on the front all day is hard...

"We had to defend the yellow jersey for Rinaldo Nocentini during the Tour de France. The first day was really good, but it's the effect of riding on the front, three or four days in a row that gets very tiring. I rode mainly on the climbs and I got a bit of a break on the valley roads to recover. After a week, you feel completely drained. It's like riding in a breakaway every day. Sometimes there's a break of six up the road, but there might be only four of us riding on the front of the bunch, trying to hold the gap steady. So they've got six against four and you can't let the gap open.

"The day to Colmar, in the Vosges, we talked about it as a team and the manager said: 'If there's an opportunity to defend the yellow jersey we will, but if not, we let it go'. A break got eight minutes and Astana kept the tempo.

"We began talking among ourselves and said, 'We've defended it for six days now, let's bring it in and we'll get another two days with the yellow jersey'. The manager wasn't so keen, but the riders decided they wanted to do it. We'd worked for a week, so another day was nothing."

Setting the pace on the Tourmalet was a fantastic experience...

"My best day in the Tour was riding on the Tourmalet. It was absolutely incredible. Hubert Dupont rode the first 6km at the front, then he peeled away and I took over and rode on the front of the peloton the final 10km to the summit. There was the motorbike in front of me, and I had the whole bunch on my wheel, and we were with the yellow jersey a couple of places back. For me, that is a great memory to have. The pleasure overcame the pain. Almost.

"The section through the village at La Mongie made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It was an electrifying experience. The crowds were enormous; they were all clapping and cheering. For me, that is what the experience of being a professional cyclist is all about."

Spectacular scenery helps the day pass more quickly...

"People may think we're so concentrated on the race that we don't take any notice of the surroundings, but the scenery plays a big part in how quickly the time passes in a bike race.

"If you have a day where it's just flat and the same fields going past, it can feel like a long day. When you're in the mountains, doing the hardest climbs, even though you are suffering you take a moment to enjoy the panorama.

"The scenery can be absolutely breathtaking. As a working environment, when the weather is great and the mountains are beautiful, we're very lucky."

Being in the spotlight gets stressful...

"The first day we had the yellow jersey it was fantastic because it was new. But as the days go on you realise you have no time for yourself. There is always an outsider in the bus, so you can't be yourself. There was either someone from one of the sponsors, or someone from the TV or a newspaper trying to talk to Nocentini. So you are trying to move round these guys, wondering what they're doing in your bus.

"The first day it's really cool, and it's not that it gets annoying, but you feel like you want to stick your number on or have a cup of tea in peace.

"From the outside, the buses look big, but when you have all the riders inside trying to change, and the management and the soigneurs, it's pretty cramped. You want to relax and prepare for the day, but you don't have any time, so you are actually anxious to start the race.

"And then you start, and the first hour is incredibly stressful because you have to try to control the race and filter the breakaways and make sure the wrong riders don't get away. Again, because the first hour of the race is not shown live on television, people don't appreciate how chaotic it is. There are attacks, attacks, attacks. Sometimes you're just praying for it to settle down so you can get into your rhythm."

I had to explain to Daniele Bennati that it was a bike race...

"On the stage to Besancon during the Tour, I took second place. At first, I was in the break to help defend the yellow jersey for Nocentini, but Bennati was obviously worried about me so first he asked me to sit up. I refused. Then he asked me not to do the sprint or try to win, and I said, 'no way'. I told him Ag2r weren't going to ride on the bunch as long as the gap didn't threaten the yellow jersey. I told him that he was a sprinter so he didn't need 10 minutes to win the stage, two or three would be enough, and that if it stayed like that we'd stay away. When he asked me not to sprint I said, 'That's not going to happen now, is it? Because it's a race. There are 20 teams with 20 objectives; let's all just get on with it'. The thing is, Bennati had the pressure to win the stage because he was the best sprinter there. I got a pretty hard time for that from the two Liquigas riders in the break. They were having a go at me on the road and they were calling me every name under the sun. But what was I supposed to do? Go back to the bunch? Promise not to try to win the race?"

The first thing most riders check out when they arrive at the hotel, is the restaurant...

"When you walk through the lobby, you have a look. How's the restaurant? You can put up with a lot if the restaurant is good. And even though we're going to have the same meal as yesterday -- salad, tomatoes, carrots, a piece of meat or fish, rice or pasta -- when you eat the same food every day, you notice a good meal and a bad meal. If you're arriving late and you've got to wait for your massage, all these things add up, so if you can have a nice meal you go to bed happy. It's amazing what a difference such a simple thing can make. A good piece of entrecote, well cooked, can send you to bed satisfied. A bad piece ruins your mood."

You need to share a room with someone with the same body clock...

"The team tries to make sure you're put with someone you get on with. Sharing a room is not so bad, because when you're on a race you don't want to be stuck on your own all the time. You have someone to talk to. You talk about the race, or anything but the race, whatever mood you're in. Getting on with your room-mate is a bonus, but you have half the year to find out who you get on with and who you don't before you get to the Tour.

"More important than just getting on is sharing your room with someone who shares the same rhythm. Some guys like to go to bed early and get up early. Some want to stay up until 1.0am and get up as late as possible. I like to get to bed early and get up early. I roomed with Hubert Dupont and he's the same as me."

Time passes quickly on the road...

"I like the movement we have as professional cyclists. Time passes by so quickly, and you're always thinking two weeks ahead. You talk about what you're doing next week and suddenly next week has gone. There's no time to dwell on things, you have to keep moving forward."

I love cooking...

"Whenever I'm at the airport, I always have a look in the delicatessen shop to buy some of the local stuff -- local vinaigrette or spices or sauces. I cook everything apart from desserts. I love to eat desserts, but I'm more of a starter and main course man in the kitchen.

"Coming back from San Sebastian recently, I bought these amazing Basque spices and I've been putting them in everything. When you've been out for a hard training ride, you can't really eat anything greasy.

"Most of the time you have to have a plate of pasta, but you can make it totally different with some herbs, so I love to have a cupboard full of different ingredients."

People ask if I feel French or Irish. I feel European...

"I speak French with an English accent and English with a French accent. My girlfriend Stefania is Italian and we live in Varese, and she says I speak Italian with a Spanish accent because I learned some Spanish at school."

I prefer a pint of Guinness to a glass of red wine...

"In Dublin, I like a pint of Guinness, for sure. I have to be careful, because too many and you'll put on weight. The Guinness outside of Ireland is not so good, which is a good thing."

Mark Cavendish came to me and complained about my dad's TV commentary...

"During the Tour, Mark rode alongside me and said, 'Hey, what's up with your dad? He keeps having a go at me!' I didn't know what my dad had been saying on Eurosport, but that's his opinion. He's different to me in some ways and similar in others, but his opinion is his opinion. I think my dad wasn't so happy about the way Mark celebrated by waving his glasses, but you know there's always two sides of the story. Maybe my dad took the message wrong. I thought it was a publicity stunt, not a show-off message. Mark's a great champion and we had a laugh about it."

It's important to switch off...

"After the stage, you want to get cleaned up as quickly as possible and try to forget about the race. Most of the guys will listen to music, or make a call home. A couple will read a book. Unless you're first on the list, you have to wait for your massage, so there's time to unwind at the hotel. Vladimir Efimkin takes a portable DVD player in with him to massage."

When I read, I alternate between a book in English and a book in French...

"It's escapism that appeals to me. I often go for books like that. My cousin is passionate about Tolkien and is always talking about the books. One day, I was in the library at home with my girlfriend, and I wandered into the English section and just spotted The Children of Hurin. The last book I read in French was called Le Premier Jour (The First Day) by Marc Levy. It's about a French archaeologist and a British astronomer who are both studying for their degrees. It's a love story but it's an adventure, with mystery and intrigue."

I wrote for the Irish Independent...

"I've written a column before, and I enjoyed it and was keen to make sure I didn't just talk about sore legs or explain that the climb was hard. Everyone knows the climb was hard. Because there's so little time on the Tour, the journalist from the newspaper called me every day. Sometimes he'd get me right after the stage, and sometimes you get carried away. Perhaps it isn't the best time to speak but it was honest.

"It was what I really felt at that moment. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I was right, but it was what I thought, and I wasn't happy with a few things in the team, and maybe I said it with the wrong words, but everything has an explanation."

This interview first appeared in the November issue of Cycle Sport magazine

www.cyclesport.co.uk

Irish Independent