It looked like Roche was going to launch an attack on today’s steep climb Mirador de Ézaro, but he only went to take a point for the combined competition which he currently leads. In spite of this, he proclaims that he has no intentions of racing for this jersey or the sprint jersey.

First of all, this should probably be seen as a result of his unclear role on Team Saxo Tinkoff where he is just one of the many cards that can be played. In order for Roche to realistically win the KOM or green jersey competition, he would have to be the undisputed captain of his team so that he could be set up for every finale.

As an example, in a finale like today where most Saxo riders were used to bring Rafal Majka back to the front after an unfortunate puncture, only Kreuziger, Chris Anker Sørensen and Majka were present in the front group for the finale. Chris Anker was unable to help as he had bad legs and Majka and Kreuziger simply took care of themselves. While this is fully understandable, it simple means that it will be rather unrealistic for Roche to win either competition, which is probably the main reason why he is not targeting the jerseys.

Moreover, Rodriguez and Valverde are probably the two top climbers in the world with the fastest finish and they will be almost impossible to beat in these two competitions, if they keep their seemingly good form.