For the past four years, Nicolas Roche has had a rather fixed schedule that has seen him hit peak condition for the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana but in 2014 he will take on a new challenge. With the Giro d'Italia starting in Belfast and passing through his native Ireland, he has been given the chance to ride the Italian grand tour and is hoping to both do well in Italy and prepare for a loyal domstique role in the Tour de France.

In 2008, Nicolas Roche proved that he was not just a professional by virtue of his famous father Stephen who as a former world champion and Giro and Tour winner was one of the best riders of his generation. Young Nicolas rode an incredibly strong Vuelta a Espana that saw him finish 13th overall after finishing 2nd on a stage.

The performance earned him a chance to ride the Tour de France in 2009 when he finished 21st and once again finished 2nd on a stage. Having seen that he was a capable grand tour rider, he decided to focus on the three-week races.

In 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, he focussed all his efforts on the Tour and the Vuelta and backed up his initial showing by several strong performances. In 2012, he was 12th in the French race and this year he finished 5th in Spain after having won a stage and worn the leader's jersey along the way.

Usually, there is no reason to fix things that aren't broken but nonetheless Roche plans to reshuffle his calendar in 2014. With the Giro d'Italia starting in Belfast, he put his hand up for the Italian grand tour and after a few weeks of planning, his team gave him the green light to ride the race as team captain.

The decision is somewhat of a gamble as it has often been proved that it is very difficult to ride both the Giro and the Tour at a high level. When Roche joined Saxo-Tinkoff prior to the 2013 season, he was mainly signed to provide support for Alberto Contador in the Tour but his participation in the Giro may put his performance in France at risk.

“I’m obviously very excited," Roche told Velonation. "I had told the team it was really important for me to do the race, and the management told me a month ago that they were going to think about it. It is very nice of them to let me go for the Giro."

However, there is a good reason for the team to believe in their Irish rider. His strongest performances have often come in the Vuelta that has been his second grand tour of the year. Roche is confident that his ability to recover from a three-week race will potentially see him ride better than ever in the Tour.

“That is something that I have in the back of my mind," he said. A lot of people who know me also saw that in the last few years. Okay, it is hard to compare the Tour and the Vuelta as the Tour is harder than the Vuelta, but overall I feel that I always tend to be going well a couple of weeks after the Tour. Even when I go to San Sebastian, I am always in top form there.

“So hopefully that’s how it works out after the Giro; the ideal situation is that I would arrive even stronger in the Tour de France.”

First of all, it is all about the Giro though. His new focus has seen the team put together an entirely new schedule that will allow him to do races he has never been doing before.

He knows that he is testing new grounds and so is reluctant to specify any kind of target.

“It is a bit of a no man’s land so I am not going to give it any predictions,” he said. “It’s a different time of year to when I am usually going well. For example, I am pretty sure of myself that when I known I am in top form in August, I can say to myself, ‘I know I am going to have a top result in the Vuelta.’
 

“That I can do. Sometimes I have had better results than other times; for example, when I ended up tenth or twelfth versus when I was sixth or fifth. But at least I am more confident of saying that when I am in top form in August, that I can be good in the Vuelta. 

“Because of that, I think it is very soon for me to give a plan of what I am going to do in the Giro. I definitely want to do well, though; I would be disappointed if I wasn’t going to have a good Giro. As I said, even though it is all new for me to prepare for that race, I will do everything possible to be in good shape.”

The team has already designed a tentative race schedule.

“I am starting in Oman," he said. "Things can change yet, but at the moment it is Oman, then Tirreno, Sanremo and then the Ardennes Classics. I’ll be doing Amstel, Flèche and Liège. It is a lighter programme than other years, but there will also be training camps. We will do them with the Giro group. It will be interesting, I’m looking forward to getting into it.”

Roche may have to share captaincy duties with Rafal Majka in the Giro. The talented Pole finished 7th in the Italian grand tour in 2013 and has stated his intention to improve on that performance.

Whether the Pole will actually be on the start line in Belfast remains to be seen. Otherwise, Roche will find himself as the sole leader of one of cycling's major teams.