Nicolas Roche has done a huge work to improve his time trialing skills and has shown great progress during the last two seasons. Today he continued his upwards trajectory by putting in a good ride in the world championships on a course that didn't do him many favours.

Nicolas Roche is a versatile rider with great climbing skills but he has never been known for his time trialing abilities. With a tough road race coming up in Sunday, many were surprised to see the Irishman on the start list for today's world championships.

To develop into a real stage racer, time trialing skills are, however, a necessary attribute. Being aware of this fact, Roche has done a huge work to improve what has so far been his main weakness and he has come a long way. Already last year, he showed progress by putting in good rides in the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana and this year the upwards trajectory has continued. His standout performance came in the recent Vuelta when he finished a surprise 6th in the sole race against the clock.

Critics would suggest that that result was more due to the hilly nature of the course than Roche's skills in the discipline. Today he proved them wrong by finishing 13th in the world championships which took place on an almost completely flat route that didn't do Roche any favours.

Having even spent some time in the hot seat, the Irishman was happy with his ride which was a well-planned step on his way to improve his skills.

"This year I have worked a lot on my time trial," he told CyclingQuotes.com when he had been knocked out of the provisional top 3. "This was the first time I did the time trial in the Worlds. I was thinking that I still need to do a lot of work. This was a great opportunity to continue to try and progress for the next years to come. I think I did it focused. It was nice. Everyone was backing me up. That was cool, that was fun."

With the experimental part of his Worlds campaign now done and dusted, Roche has set his sights on the road race in which he is gunning for a top result. He will join his cousin Dan Martin in a leadership role on the 4-rider Irish team that also contains an in-form Sam Bennett and national champion Matthew Brammeier.

Roche showed great condition in the Vuelta when he finished 5th. With his sprinting and climbing abilities, he may be regarded as a dark horse on the tough course in Florence and while he feels tired at the end of the long season, he is confident that he has the form to be in the mix.

"Obviously, condition doesn't go away in a week," he said. "It's more a question of tiredness. I feel the Vuelta is there and I do feel a bit more tired. But if I ride smart and save the energy as much as possible, I should be able to survive until the finishing lap."

While the biggest nations will line up 9 riders, Roche can only count on the support from three teammates. This limits his tactical options and it will mostly be a waiting came for Roche and Martin.

"We are small in numbers so tactics are pretty simple for us," he said. "We are not going take the race in charge. It's just about me and Dan trying to ride smart and following the right wheels if we can."

CyclingQuotes also discussed Roche's 2014 race schedule in light of the recent announcement that his teammate Alberto Contador plans to do the Tour-Vuelta double. You can read more about that on CyclingQuotes.com in a later article.