Nicolas Roche

Nicolas Roche (born 3 July 1984) is an Irish professional road bicycle racer. He has twice been national champion and has numerous top ten finishes in Grand Tour stages, including stage wins at the 2013 Vuelta a España and the 2015 Vuelta a España. He represented Ireland at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the road race. He has competed for Ireland 7 times at the road world championships.

Early life

Roche, who was born in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, France, is the son of former cycling champion Stephen Roche and his former wife, Lydia, nephew of former cycling professionals Lawrence Roche and Neil Martin and cousin of 2008 Irish road champion Dan Martin. He spent his childhood living in both Ireland and France, living in Dublin from 1996 to 1999, where he was educated at Lycée Français d'Irlande in Foxrock for two years and Blackrock College, a private school in Dublin, for one year. During this period he was a keen soccer and rugby player. He moved to southern France in 1999, where he spent most of life since. He currently resides in Monaco, having previously lived in Varese, Italy until 2013.