Cycling/ Giro d'Italia stage four:Nicolas Roche was one of several riders who crashed on yesterday's fourth stage of the Tour of Italy, and ended up losing time as a result.
He hit the deck 25 kilometres before the summit finish, and while he was able to remount, he was left chasing on his own at a crucial part of the stage. He came across the line in a large group 14 minutes and two seconds behind the stage winner, Danilo Di Luca, placing 167th.
"I actually crashed twice in 500 metres," he said. "A few riders fell with 25 kilometres to go. I came down then, got up and sprinted off after the guy changed my wheel.
"I was looking down at my bike to make sure it was okay and the guy in front of me slammed his brakes and I went straight up on the back of him. I did a somersault. My elbow is a bit sore but nothing is broken, just swollen. I should be okay to start tomorrow.
"It was impossible to get back to the bunch after two crashes. It took ages for me to catch up with the gruppetto (dropped riders) on the climb."
Di Luca was first to the top of Montevergine di Mercogliano, outsprinting his Italian compatriots Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval-Prodir) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre Fondital) for the stage win. He once again took the pink jersey of race leader from his team-mate Enrico Gasparotto, and is now 26 seconds clear of his team-mate Franco Pellizotti overall.
Roche's bad luck put him back in 142nd overall. He will hope for better on today's 173 kilometres from Teano to Frascati, near Rome.
Today Stage 5 (173km from Teano to Frascati) On TV: Eurosport (2pm).
GIRO D'ITALIA - Stage 4(Salerno to Montevergine Di Mercogliano 153km): 1 D Di Luca (Liquigas) 4:22:42; 2 R Ricco (Saunier Duval - Prodir); 3 D Cunego (Lampre - Fondital); 4 A Schleck (Team CSC) at 3 secs; 5 S Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo) same time; 6 F Pellizotti (Liquigas) at 6 secs. Irish: 167, N Roche(Crédit Agricole) at 14 mins 2 secs. General classification: 1 Di Luca 14:26:10; 2 Pellizotti at 26 secs; 3, A Noe' (Liquigas) at 35 secs; 4, V Nibali (Liquigas) same time; 5 Schleck at 53 secs; 6 Cunego at 54 secs; 142 Rocheat 17:12. Points: 1, R McEwen (Predictor - Lotto) 42 pts; 2, A Petacchi (Team Milram) 41; 3 Di Luca 29. Mountains: 1 Di Luca 15 pts; 2, Ricco 10; 3 P Brutt (Tinkoff Credit System) 8.
