Nicolas Roche had a difficult winter. The Team Sky rider went to hospital twice in the space of a few weeks because of spider bites. His preparation for the new season was hampered.

"I am running a bit late on everything but itís a long season, so Iím not too worried yet. Here I will be doing a very similar thing to what I was doing in [the Volta a] Valencia, getting the miles in and doing a lot of support work for (race winner) Wout [Poels]", he told Cyclingnews at the Ruta del Sol. "I have to get back into the rhythm. Because of all the problems Iíve had, I have not done any high-intensity work, so the goal here at these races is to work as much as possible and trash myself in a way. Just a bit of a catch-up, you know?"

Roche confirmed that he is a last minute call-up for the race. "Initially I was going to race here, then we thought it'd be better to get a block of training in, but then these things happen. I was like first replacement, so it wasnít a massive surprise."

"I was told I had to be ready just in case something happened and this time of the year - January, February through to March, April - thereís always a big possibility of having viruses or whatever."