For the second day in a row, Nicolas Roche launched a strong attack on the final climb in the Tour of Britain. Regretting that he missed out on the stage win, the Irishman was pleased to have gained time on several key rivals.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Nicolas Roche finished 6th taking time on several of his main GC-rivals on stage 4 of Tour of Britain. The Irishman once again went on the attack on the final climb but missed out on the stage win in the final corner, where Michal Kwiatkowski was the fastest man.
 
“Overall it was a good stage. I finished in the front group of six riders 6 seconds ahead of the peloton and many of my rivals in the GC. I missed out on the opportunity to take the stage win, as I missed the last corner and went into the final sprint in a bad position. But I took some very important seconds on some of my rivals”, says Nicolas Roche after crossing the finish line in Bristol.
 
A 9-rider breakaway went away early on the stage and Tinkoff-Saxo worked hard to drag them back in again. Manuele Boaro took a turn setting a high pace from kilometer 25 to 90 and the breakaway was caught on the last climb. Nikolay Trusov and Rory Sutherland worked hard to deliver Roche in a good position before the climb.
 
“My teammates worked really hard for me all day and did a spectacular job. Manuele was in the front for 70 kilometer, so he will sleep well tonight. The team believes in riding actively and we want to take responsibility. I saw my opportunity to attack on the final climb, but I was a bit too late to bridge the gap alone to the two riders in front before the flat part”, adds Nicolas Roche.
 
Tour of Britain will most likely be decided by small time differences on the time trial. Sport Director Lars Michaelsen was satisfied with Roche being able to take 6 seconds on his opponents.
 
“Once again the team showed that we are here to take responsibility. Today, we wanted to win a few seconds on the other favorites, but Nicolas also attacked with the stage win in mind. He was really close to bridging the gap to the two riders in front before the flat straight, where he could have rested a bit before the final sprint”, explains Lars Michaelsen.