Nicolas Roche is one of the outsiders who could not play his card at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Indeed, the Team Sky rider fell very close to the finish. He admits the result of his crash could have been a lot worse.

“He touched off a Lampre rider and both of them went down, right in front of me,” says Roche according to Velonews. “In the collision, Arashiro’s bike hit mine and catapulted me across the road, where I landed under a tree on the grass verge as a Garmin-Cannondale rider rode into my back and flipped over me. For a few seconds I didn’t know what had happened and was confused when a stranger in a red jacket leaned over me to see if I was okay. The spectator’s face was soon replaced by those of my team mechanic and the race doctor, who removed my helmet and checked me over before tending to Arashiro who was lying prone beside me.”

Roche will rider the Tour de Romandie this week with Chris Froome, Peter Kennaugh, Danny Pate, Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas and Elia Viviani.