AG2R’s Roche stockpiling own wheels for Tour de France.

//AG2R’s Roche stockpiling own wheels for Tour de France.

AG2R’s Roche stockpiling own wheels for Tour de France.

Roche wary of Gadret

Nicolas Roche is taking no chances with this year’s Tour de France.

After French teammate John Gadret refused to give him his wheel in stage 15 last year, the Irishman is taking the extraordinary precaution of bring his own spare wheels.

“It’s a bit crazy but I can’t take the risk with Gadret around,” said Roche. “I’m bringing twenty wheel-sets and some other parts just in case.”

Despite assurances from AG2R team manager Vincent Lavenu that Gadret will support him in the Tour, Roche has apparently hired his own mechanic and will have fan club members stationed at specific locations in the Pyrenees and Alps.

After Gadret declined to hand over his wheel last year, Roche admitted he wanted to “put his head through the nearest window.” Relations remain chilly and Roche has had to plan for the possibility that Gadret will again prove unhelpful.

“My fans have been great and I’ve got a whole caravan traveling in support. We’ll have the wheels ready if needed and I’ll be storing the bike in the camper too because I can’t trust Gadret or Lavenu,” said Roche. “They’re both French and it’s their race so I don’t expect much of a hand.”

The idea of stockpiling his own wheel-sets came to Roche after a long conversation with Tour champion Greg Lemond. “I knew what he was going thru, I’ve been there,” said Lemond. “Hinault and Gadret are both jerks. I told Nick if he wants to ride high on GC, he’s got to beat these guys are their own game.”

Roche is downplaying the rumor that he is also bringing his own food to the Tour de France. One unsubstantiated story revealed that last year Gadret was also unwilling to pass Roche the pasta bowl at the team dinner.

“Roche was hungry as it had been a hard stage but when he asked Gadret if he could share some of his pasta, Gadret refused and took his food to his room,” said assistant DS Herve LaRoue. “Things are not go good between them.”

By |2019-02-03T16:19:02-08:00June 20th, 2011|Uncategorized|6 Comments

About the Author:

6 Comments

  1. Sam June 20, 2011 at 1:29 pm - Reply

    His dad had trouble with nationalistic pride working against him on his own Carerra Team, why should it be different for the son. Although Nicolas is a French citizen if I'm not mistaken. Hmmm…maybe Gadret is just a meat head, I don't know.

  2. IdeaStormer Jorge June 20, 2011 at 1:54 pm - Reply

    Well in this case (as opposed to Lemond) its one rider not the whole team. Roche just needs to ride great and not look back.

  3. sacramennah June 20, 2011 at 2:56 pm - Reply

    Matt, you do come up with the scoops!

    • TwistedSpoke June 20, 2011 at 7:01 pm - Reply

      I love scoops but dislike gelato. Hard to explain but yes, I do love scoops. Matt

  4. Higgins June 22, 2011 at 9:41 am - Reply

    Its selfish behaviour like this that leads hardworking cyclists like Ricco to store their own blood in the fridge..no-one else is ever prepared to share a pint of their own. Whats the world coming to ?

  5. TwistedSpoke June 24, 2011 at 10:28 pm - Reply

    A good point Higgins. You know cycling traditions have weakened when a teammate won't share blood. Matt

Leave A Comment