CYCLING:CONCERNED BY a sore knee on Sunday's stage, Nicolas Roche was happy to find that the aches had largely settled down after Monday's rest day in the Tour de France. Yesterday's 10th stage went to plan; he remained alongside the race contenders, rolling across the line in 19th place, and remains 13th overall in the general classification.

For Roche, as ever, the goal before the start of the big mountains was to steer clear of trouble and to allow his legs to continue building strength.

He feels his form is still moving forwards and, on the basis of his disrupted preparations for the race, will hope that the upward trend means he will have more reserves than his rivals in the final week.

“Things are moving okay,” he told The Irish Times yesterday. “The knee is settled. That was one of my preoccupations yesterday [Monday]. I had a really good rest day, for a change – in the other years I did a lot, but yesterday I did almost nothing. I just took it easy to let the knee recover, and today was okay.

“I’m hoping that things keep moving forward. I’ll know more in two days, when we reach the mountains.”

Roche heads into today’s 167.5km stage to Lavaur three minutes 45 seconds off the yellow jersey of Thomas Voeckler. The Europcar rider is not a recognised climber, and will start to slide backwards in the high mountains. Roche is not worried about the Frenchman, but will rather concentrate on the other general classification contenders, battling it out for a place in the top-10.

“I would have been disappointed if I wasn’t in this position,” he said, referring to being in the top-15 at this point. “I hope my form will continue to pick up and things move forward.”