Attacked and beaten: big scare for the'former champion

Huge scare for former Irish cyclist Nicolas Roche, who was attacked and beaten in downtown Barcelona by some thugs who wanted to steal his watch. Roche decided to tell all about it on his social media: “I was just attacked and beaten up by three men as I was coming out of a restaurant in downtown Barcelona. They were trying to steal my’watch”.

“Thanks to my girlfriend and the two store security officers further down the street I managed not only to save my watch, but more importantly to prevent the attackers from beating me further– continued the’former cyclist. “It was the biggest scare of my life”.

“What shocked me was to see that for more than five minutes people stood there looking at me while I was on the ground and my girlfriend was shouting for help, until finally two guards intervened and drove the thieves away. Fortunately, I only got a few cuts on my face and a bruise on my elbow. Marta was hit on the back of the head as she tried to protect me on the ground. I still find it hard to believe what happened. Be careful everyone when you go out” concluded Nicolas Roche addressing his followers.

The son of well-known cyclist Stephen Roche, Nicolas was a professional cyclist from 2005 to 2021 and won two stages at the Vuelta a España. He has competed for Cofidis, Crédit Agricole, AG2R La Mondiale, Saxo Bank, Tinkoff, Sky, BMC, Sunweb, and DSM.