Since retiring from the WorldTour in 2021, Nicolas Roche has turned his focus to gravel racing, a pursuit which on Sunday took the Irish rider to the UCI Gravel World Championships in Italy and his 30th rainbow jersey race across the cycling disciplines.
His goal was to enjoy the experience of testing himself against the best and, at the same time, grow the nascent discipline of gravel. “I had an amazing time,” Roche told reporters at the finish line.
“There are days when you are in for the performance. Today I was in for a lot of other things, obviously, the performance needs to be there but it was more about properly challenging myself and seeing how far I can go."
Being up there, at least for part of the race, and riding alongside the likes of Wout van Aert, Alejandro Valverde and Matej Mohorič again was all just a part of the 'living a dream' experience said the rider who retired from the WorldTour at the end of 2021.
“I was just having a laugh and saying, you know, gravel is just the crazy CX guys, the crazy mountain guys, the crazy road guys all kind of thrown in together," said Roche. "And it made for some aggressive racing, but some hard racing and there was no pacing, there was no teamwork. I felt that today was like a real what we have in the US, but just with a lot more professional riders."
The race was on from the start, and the 39-year-old admitted that he was not ready for the initial battle.
“It took me quite some time to make my way from the back to the front. At about kilometre 40 I made it back to the front and then I was like, 'okay, now I'm just going to go, no pacing, go all in, try and stay with the guys as long as I can and then when I blow, I just blow.”
“Then when we hit that real long climb, then just literally about 100 metres before the top, there was a steeper bit and that was it for me.”
After that, Roche found himself in a chase group until kilometre 90. “I don't know why instead of riding, everybody just kind of started attacking each other and then 40km to go that was it, I blew and I was like, okay, now, it’s just about making it to the finish.”
He battled with another group going into the finish and ultimately crossed the line 22 minutes behind the winner for 36th place. In 2022, he finished 47th at the inaugural Gravel World Championships, also held in Italy.
The top four spots were taken by current and former professional road riders, with Matej Mohorič (Slovenia) in first place, Florian Vermeersch (Belgian) second, Connor Swift (GBR) in third and Alejandro Valverde (Spain) in fourth place. American champion Keegan Swenson, in fifth place, was the only gravel rider to break into the top 10.
For Roche, it makes perfect sense that roadies dominated the podium.
“No one can do the Vuelta or the Tour to prepare for the Worlds of gravel and no one is paid enough money to train and commit as hard as a WorldTour rider. You don't have the support,” he explained. “Maybe I defend my own house, but I just believe that WorldTour riders at the top are one of the fittest athletes on the planet.”
“It's not about making it more technical," said Roche, who characterised Sunday’s 169km course with 1,900 metres of elevation gain as "one of the most technical courses I've done all year”.
"I just think that WorldTour riders are just better trained and better looked after, they are racehorses and then the rest are trying to do our best. Even the top guys in the US would never have the support that you can have here and the amount of race days."
Roche, who said he has had 12-14 days of racing this year, plans on doing more next season, focusing a lot of his season on races in the United States, as he did in 2023. He also plans on racing the UCI Gravel World Series races in Europe with the goal of helping grow the discipline.
