Nicolas Roche is riding at the Ruta del Sol with a view to finding form to help Chris Froome win the Tour de France and to prove to his new employers Team Sky that he can win when they give him the chance to lead the team.

“I’ve been working for leaders before but if I’m at my best I’ll have opportunities for myself – and it will be my role to seize them,” declared the former Vuelta stage winner in a recent interview with Sticky Bottle.

“I believe if I’m at my best and training and doing everything I can for the team leader, sooner or later I’ll have an opportunity or an opening where I’ll have to attack or make the race harder and that will fall in my favour at some stage.”

Despite being over 30 now, Roche says he hopes to remain riding for a good few more years and has become more meticulous with his preparation as he has gotten older.

“I feel I’ve done quite a lot of racing but on the other hand it’s a good thing that it’s flown and I feel like I can go on for another long while. I certainly hope I can do another 9 or 10 years and that’s something I really want to focus on.”

“As I get older I find I feel I need to do more. Not only because I’m getting older but because everyone else is doing more. It’s the evolution of cycling which makes it harder. There’s more detail, the proportion of riders who are doing everything right is getting bigger every year.”