Roche beats Deignan for big Beijing win

Nicolas Roche pulled off a superb first Pro Tour win on the toughest stage of the Tour of Beijing after beating Philip Deignan in a thrilling sprint for the line in Yong Ning.

The Irish duo lit up the final 15 kilometres of the mountainous stage and hung on by the skin of their teeth to contest the sprint with breakaway companion Christopher Froome (Team Sky).

Deignan (Radioshack) instigtated the stage winning move after launching an attack at the foot of the first category Erpuliang with just under 16 kilometres to the finish.

He profited from the hesitation and indecision within the peloton and was soon clear at the head of the race.

The Donegal man punched a rapid pace over the four kilometre climb and it took a big effort from Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) to bridge the gap with Froome in tow.

The trio came together over the summit with no more than 20 seconds lead over a chase group of eighteen riders led by the HTC-Highroad team of race leader Tony Martin.

The descent to the finish was spectacularly exciting with the trio working well together to hold off the chase group by the smallest of margins.

The gap was a mere ten seconds with five kilometres to go as Roche and Deignan refused to concede defeat while Froome looked to overhaul the 26 seconds separating him from Martin overall.

The trio pulled hard to maintain their lead into the final kilometre but with less than 100 metres separating from the peloton they looked certain to be cruely denied the spoils.

Roche’s hunger for the stage win was breathtaking and he seized the moment by opening the throtle with 300 metres to go.

Deignan reacted immediately leaving the two Irish riders to go head to head as the peloton came close to swallowing up Froome.

As the better sprinter Roche was always the favourite for the stage win but Deignan put up a stout effort to get past his compatriot.

Roche though had the legs and he had almost a bike lenght on Deignan at the line as he celebrated a long sought after but richly deserved stage win with bitter sweet satifation.

The result while also leaving Deignan with mixed emotions marked a welcome return back to the top echelons of the sport and the Donegal man has good reason to be pleased with his performance.

Roche was delighted with his win having declared that he wanted to win the stage at the team’s morning briefing.

“In the home stretch I saw the bunch coming back. I had a knot in my stomach and I said to myself: no, not today, I cannot lose,” Roche commented.

“I am obviously very happy. It is a victory that makes me feel really good. This is my second win since I joined AG2R La Mondiale but it is the most important. 

“It is very timely for myself and the team. I have had a difficult season from a personal point of view for different reasons and the team knows well that the end of season is difficult,” he said.

“A tactic was set up during the team briefing and the team played the game 100%. I said I wanted to win this stage and Jean-Christophe could go for the general. Everyone got on board and the result is here.

“There are not many days like this when we announce that we want to win and we make it happen.

“I was also thinking of the work done by the mechanics, assistants and team managers throughout the season. I have not always live up the results that I would have liked and this is a good way to say thank you to them,” Roche added.

Team directeur sportif Julien Jurdie was delighted with Roche’s result and expressed his belief that it will mark the start of new things for the 27 year old.

“The team is very united around Nicolas and Jean-Christophe. We have always had riders in the top 15 positions in the race and there was a lot of work done by Sebastien Hinault, Blel Kadri and Julien Berard at the bottom of the last climb,” he said.

“Mikael Cherel and Christophe Riblon took over from there. Nicolas was very motivated this morning and said that he wanted to win this stage and he has delivered,” he added.

Deignan was naturally disappointed to come so close to achieving his first Pro Tour win since taking a stage at the 2009 Vuelta á Espana.

“I was a bit sad to be so close and then lose the victory. I started my sprint a bit too early.  It’s nice that we’re two Irishmen in the front, but I would have preferred to take the win myself," he remarked.

The result could not have been any better for Team Ireland's prospects of qualifying four riders for the London 2012 Olympics considering the UCI points on offer.

Martin continues to lead the race by 17 seconds over David Millar (Garmin Cervelo) while Froome remains third at 26 seconds.

Roche's win see him climb to 11th in the GC at 48 seconds while Deignan has jumped to 31st where is deficit is 1'08" overall.

Results:

Tour of Beijing

Stage 3: Men Tou Gou - Yong Ning via Thirteen Ming Tombs, 162 kms.

1.  Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 3:53:15    
2.  Philip Deignan (Irl) Team RadioShack         
3.  Christopher Froome (Gbr) Sky Procycling at 0:00:01    
4.  Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre - ISD         
5.  Nick Nuyens (Bel) Saxo Bank SunGard         
6.  Paul Martens (Ger) Rabobank Cycling Team         
7.  Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Movistar Team         
8.  Simon Clarke (Aus) Pro Team Astana         
9.  Michael Barry (Can) Sky Procycling         
10. Luke Roberts (Aus) Saxo Bank SunGard

General classification after stage 3:

1.  Tony Martin (Ger) HTC - Highroad 7:10:19    
2.  David Millar (Gbr) Team Garmin - Cervelo 0:00:17    
3.  Christopher Froome (Gbr) Sky Procycling 0:00:26    
4.  Stephen Cummings (Gbr) Sky Procycling 0:00:35    
5.  Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Omega Pharma - Lotto 0:00:39    
6.  Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:41    
7.  Jean Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La mondiale 0:00:43    
8.  Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Pro Team Astana         
9.  Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quick Step Cycling Team         
10. Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick Step Cycling Team 0:00:46    

11. Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La mondiale a 0:00:48    
31. Philip Deignan (Irl) Team RadioShack at 1 minute, 08 seconds

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