Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) lost time in Saturday's cold but remains firmly in the top 10 in the Vuelta a Espana as the race takes its second rest day. Despite the blow to his podium ambitions, the race represents a massive breakthrough for the Irishman who is maturing into a leadership role for future grand tours.

Alberto Contador failed to finish on the Tour de France podium but when the Vuelta a Espana entered the Pyrenees on Saturday, his teammate Nicolas Roche found himself in a position to potentially accomplish the mission in the Spanish grand tour. Sitting in 2nd on GC, the Irishman was a genuine podium candidate and his prospects were bright.

Things unravelled when the sun disappeared and gave way for rain and cold. Like many other riders, Roche had difficulty handling the sudden change in conditions and slipped to 6th on GC.

“I suffer a lot from the cold," he told VeloNews. "I was clever enough to put the knee-warmers on, but then I was stupid enough to take them off on the last descent. From going from having the knee warmers on to taking them off, well, my legs just froze. They were two pieces of wood. And that was it. I paid a big price for it.”

24 hours later Roche showed character when he launched a gutsy attack on the Port de Bales and held off his GC rivals all the way to the finish in Peyragudes to earn a few seconds. Yesterday he suffered a bit in the finale but still took back one second on Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r) who is just ahead of him on GC.

With the podium now being a more difficult objective, Roche has adjusted his targets.

“I am going to keep fighting. I’ve said that since the first day, that I want to take it day by day, and fight every single day for it,” he continued. “For the moment, let’s break into the top-5, then I will think about the podium.”

Roche joined Saxo-Tinkoff prior to this season and was set to play a support role for Contador in the Tour de France. He duly did this but hoped to get his own chance in the final grand tour of the season. He prepared the race meticulously and lost a bit of weight as he aspired to improve on his 7th place taken in the 2010 edition of the race.

His preparation paid off when he won stage 2 and at the end of stage 8, he even got the chance to enjoy a stint in the leader's jersey. He lost it one day later in Valdepeñas de Jaen but his performance have impressed his team manager Bjarne Riis.

“He’s never been this close. He’s developing as a rider. He’s taking it to the next level this year,” he told Velonews. “He’s been learning a lot. He learns how to be a leader, to handle a grand tour. It’s stressful, you need to stay calm. It’s important for the future. I think he has the capacity to be a strong rider. He’s shown that here. A good time trial, he’s climbing pretty good.”

Racing resumes on Wednesday with a flat stage. Starting at 15.00 CEST you can follow that stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.