Nicolas Roche was commentating on the elite men’s race at the Worlds, saying there was plenty to be happy about from an Irish perspective
Nicolas Roche has praised Ben Healy’s performance at the World Road Championships in Montreal, after a year of heavy pressure for him. He added Jamie Meehan also demonstrated his qualities as a rider on the biggest stage in Canada on Sunday.
Former World Tour rider, and Vuelta leader and stage winner, Roche told stickybottle there was always going to be an air of ‘the difficult second album’ for Healy this year.
That was natural after his runaway success of last season, especially his Tour de France stage win and yellow jersey performances, and his bronze at the Worlds, said Roche, who flew to the Worlds for a quick one day of work commentating.
“He was tenth on Sunday and last year he took the bronze. But that was a dream, last year was exceptional,” Roche said of the EF Education-EasyPost Irishman.
“He wanted more from Sunday but, realistically, what he did was an amazing result if you look at the names in the first 10, it was an incredible race.”
After a crash at the start of the season and a couple of bouts of illness, which shaved the top off his form, even in the Tour de France where he was so aggressive, Roche said Healy had the strength to turn it around.
Ben Healy rode to 10th at the Worlds, with Roche saying it took mental strength to get back to top form of late, especially after a tricky early season with lots of new pressures (Photo: Toby Watson)
“The mental aspect for me is always the hardest for the riders; to keep on putting in the hard work, and maybe even extra hard work,” he said of trying to come out of a lull and fire on all cylinders again.
“And you can go into this loop… you start to get in shape, and then, you feel like you don’t want to miss opportunities. And you start wanting it too much in races sometimes
“You’re making an extra few mistakes, chasing too many breakaways, for example, and the next move is the one that goes. But I think he’s done extremely well, especially in the last few months, to come back and be so competitive.
“Even before that, in the Tour, he never stopped trying, even though he probably wasn’t where he was last year. But, obviously, if we take last year as the benchmark for other years, it’s going to be very difficult to back that up.
“When you come out of a really good season and you struggle at the start of your next season, and maybe you have a few problems, it’s hard. You’re saying to yourself ‘okay, now I need to come back’.
“And there’s a lot of expectations as well, with signing a new contract, everyone putting on a lot of pressure – in terms of the fans and in the team. Everybody, more or less, is expecting him to repeat what he’s done in the previous year.”
The Worlds | Elites and U23s
Roche said he saw Healy’s post-race comments on Sunday and his suggestion that perhaps he should have waited a little longer to go on the attack. But he felt many of the moves he made “could have been the right one, until another rider did something to make sure it wasn’t the right one”.
Roche said he was really impressed at the way Jamie Meehan got up the road and had the legs to stay there the longest, before remaining in the peloton for several laps once caught (Photo: Toby Watson)
“We also had Jamie Meehan in the breakaway for 160 kilometres, he did really well. Even when the bunch caught him, he hung in there for about two laps. I was pretty impressed to see how well he rode and what he was capable of.
“He had a very long day and, even when the group split multiple times at the front, he was always there, always in the front part. And then he was one of the last riders to be caught. Even then, he stuck around, big kudos to him.”
Roche said he was “proud” to see the Irish jerseys on the front of the U23 men’s race. He had read about Liam O’Brien’s brother, Shane (17)), being killed in a training ride crash in June.
That was tragic for the family and would have been felt by all of the riders on the team in Montreal. And he felt the U23 team of O’Brien, Seth Dunwoody, Adam Rafferty and David Gaffney wanted to go out and race in a prominent manner.
Even though it didn’t work out this time, he was very encouraged to see them taking it on the way they did.
“I will always put forward someone who’s trying,” he said of the team. “And when it comes down to it, you only know it didn’t work at the end.”
The Americans
Roche said though Brandon McNulty had won the elite Worlds with a brave performance, his team mates Matteo Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons were instrumental to his success.
He could see from McNulty’s recent performances racing in Canada he was in good form.
While Brandon McNulty won the day, Roche said the performances of his USA team mates, Quinn Simmons, above, and Matteo Jorgenson, really influenced the outcome (Photo: Toby Watson)
“And when I saw Quinn Simmons share some of his data on social media, I was think ‘he’s definitely ready,'” Roche added.
“They also rode extremely well together, which often doesn’t quite happen, especially when you’re in three different (trade) teams.
“I saw Jorgenson last night in the airport and I had a chat with him. I was saying to him ‘wow, the work you put in there was insane’. He chased literally everything.”
When Simmons went in an earlier move, to mark Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) and others, Roche said that allowed Jorgenson and McNulty to sit on in the chasing group.
“So, tactically, they were at the front. They had the right riders in the right groups at the right times. It was one of those days that just worked for them. And when McNulty went, the group looked at each other.
“He wasn’t the ultimate favourite so they let him go. It’s not like when somebody like van der Poel goes… and straight away somebody like Pidcock will close it.
“McNulty literally just made the most of the top favourites looking at each other. He also timed it perfectly. He went from far out and was brave enough to try it and it worked out for him.”