Roche rides to best finish of Tour debut

Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) finishes in second place

Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) finishes in second place (Image credit: Sirotti)

Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) finished second on stage 14 from Colmar to Besançon, landing the highest placing thus far in the Irishman's Tour de France debut. After joining the day's successful break, Roche rode the majority of the stage as a passenger acting on team orders not to work in order to defend teammate Rinaldo Nocentini's yellow jersey.

Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.