Nicolas Roche(Saxo-Tinkoff) has confirmed he'll race 2014 Giro d'Italia. The race will hold its first 3 stages in the island of Ireland, which motivates the Irish rider to take part in it.

"As soon as I heard the Giro was coming to Ireland, I told the team I wanted to ride it," Roche says. "But the season was just finished and they told me to take a break and they'd think about it. We had our first pre-season training camp this week and Saxo Bank confirmed to me today that the Giro is on my race programme for next year, so I'm really happy to be able to say I'll be in Belfast next May."

The Irish stages attracted his cousin, Dan Martin, as well, as the Garmin-Sharp leader previously announced that he'll ride in Giro 2014 as well. While Dan Martin will likely target GC, Roche will probably not be the team leader though, as Polish talent Majka will also attend the race.

Roche thus thinks he can use the Italian grand tour as a preparation, "I actually think that if I finish the Giro on a strong note that I could recover and be as strong, or even stronger, for the Tour de France but at the moment I'm just concerned about getting set for the Giro," says Roche. Although, in Tour he'll likely be a domestique for Contador and Kreuziger too.

Roche finished 5th in Vuelta this year, his highest GC ranking in any grand tour.