Nicholas Roche: "Virtual races, a way for cyclists to remain visible"

Irish cyclist Nicholas Roche. JOSE JORDAN / AFP

Text by: Thomas-Sean de Saint Leger Follow

Connected via an exercise bike to an online racing platform, thirteen well-known runners participated this April 5, 2020 in a virtual mini-classic of 32 kilometers, supposed to reproduce the final of the 104th Tour of Flanders, scheduled for the same day but swept away by the health crisis. The event, broadcast live on television and on Youtube, attracted viewers and Internet users from many countries. Third in the race, won by the Belgian Greg Van Avermaet, the experienced Nicholas Roche (Sunweb) enjoyed the experience. The Irishman explains why she thought it was important.

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Nicholas Roche, what are your impressions, a few hours after this first “ virtual Tour of Flanders ?

Nicholas Roche : First, my legs hurt (laughs) ! Otherwise, I don't know if this podium will count, obviously it has nothing to do with a place on a "real" classic, and then what is important today is above all the approach. In the crisis we are going through, these initiatives are welcome. The organizers got involved, the teams too, the television followed, and the runners played the game. It was a nice experience, a way also to find the public. By placing a camera in the living room, we bring the spectators into our home, it is quite intimate, finally.

Did you feel like you were playing a race or rather a game of video game ?

I felt like I was doing a time trial. Even if the rendering is more and more realistic, especially in terms of relays and aspiration, there is for example a delay in taking into account attacks. Otherwise, in terms of power indicators or heartbeats, we were on the rhythm of a real race, and besides I had prepared it as I prepare a stopwatch: pasta dish the day before, an hour and a half of cycling apartment in the morning, a micro-nap, new pasta dish 3 hours before departure, warm-up 30 minutes before and then go! During the race, I was just focused on my ranking, not to mention the diet and hydration because it was very intense.

What did you miss the most compared to a " normal " race ?

What I miss is feeling the wind on my face, the people on the side of the road, the encouragement. You don't feel the adrenaline, the thrills that a race can bring. But you can't compare, it's another sport. It was an experimental competition, a way of testing a new concept, and I am happy to have been one of the "pioneers".

If the race stops longer, can this type of event temporarily replace the road competition ?

It’s interesting, first of all, because it allows you to do an hour “on the block”, and above all, it’s a way for the peloton to remain visible, dynamic: it’s also shown on television. follow-up on social networks. Right now, in a lot of countries, the races of the 1980s and 1990s are rebroadcast, that means that there is a demand and all that allows us to keep an activity, to have a news. This is important for the public and for the sponsors. Of course, we can always discuss the format: make it longer, shorter, with more runners or in the form of a one-on-one match, etc ... But at least, it's a starting point.

The cycling economy is fragile, highly dependent on team sponsors. For them, the absence of " real " races remains synonymous with the absence of significant spinoffs. Remember that the Tour de France, for example, is still far from being acquired. This situation worries you, knowing in addition that the CCC team (employer, among others of Greg Van Avermaet, reigning Olympic champion and more incidentally winner of the virtual Tour of Flanders) has just thanked part of its staff and to significantly reduce the wages of runners ?

Of course. But our team (Sunweb) continues today to fully support us. If the situation lasts longer than expected, she may have to revise her plans, but for now, we are lucky to be able to count on her. As I said, to at least save the furniture during this period, we must multiply online events, continue to talk about our sport.

The other challenge for many confined professional cyclists is to stay in shape without being able to leave the house. What are your tips ?

I try to have a rhythm: wake up at 8 am, a few emails, some music and then at 10:30 am, I ride for two or three hours on the exercise bike, in line with other runners. Sometimes we talk at the same time on Facetime, it gives a little the impression of leaving the house, without leaving the house. Then I have lunch, take a nap, and then comes the most complicated part of the day: the afternoon. Time can pass very slowly, especially since I live alone, so I often do a one-hour exercise bike session, not because I need it, but because you have to kill boredom. Boredom is the sportsman's enemy. Boredom makes you hungry, so don't hang around the fridge too much, otherwise you just think about snacking. This is hard.

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