14:02 - Roche’s Thoughts On Today’s Stage Winner...
Nicolas Roche is the leader of the AG2R team for the Tour. He is currently ranked 8th overall, 2’28” off the lead. He shares the same time as Jurgen van den Broeck (OLO) and Roche believes that the Belgian could be a surprise winner today. “Of course I think Armstrong, Contador or Schleck are going to be the big contenders as well. But one of the surprises could be van den Broeck. He seemed very comfortable yesterday on the bike.”
13:59 - Roche Impressed With Evans
“Today I hope that I’m good enough,” ’Nico’ Roche told LeTour.fr earlier today. “I’d like to be around the top 15. I’ll be satisfied if I can achieve that. Today is a lot steeper but yesterday’s finale was a good climb for me. I could put it in a big gear but my speed was okay as well. Today will be another climb at the finish but I’m pretty confident. “Cadel seems very strong. The way he’s racing is impressive – he spends all the day in the top 10.”
14:15 - Kroon With Orange Bar Tape Today
One of the Dutch riders in the peloton, Karsten Kroon (BMC), has orange bar tape on his bike today. “I’m showing my support for the Dutch team on the day of the World Cup final,” he told Sebastien Piquet of Radio Tour earlier today, “but no matter what the result - even if the Dutch win - I’m taking it off tomorrow... because it looks terrible...”