Retired pro and Vuelta a España stage winner Nicolas Roche was the victim of an attempted robbery as he left a restaurant in Barcelona, Spain this week.
The 41-year-old wrote on Instagram that he was attacked by three men, who were trying to steal his watch. He escaped with minor facial injuries from the incident, which he described as the “biggest fright of my life”.
“Just been attacked and beaten up by three men as I walked out of a restaurant in central Barcelona trying to rob my watch,” Roche wrote in now timed-out Instagram stories.
“Thanks to my girlfriend and the two security agents from the shop further down the street I managed to not only save my watch but mostly stopped the attackers from beating me more.”
The Irishman went on to say that he believes the attack was pre-planned.
“It’s crazy to think that someone in the restaurant must have warned the gang to wait outside for me. I had read about all of this in the news but it’s something else to experience it. Biggest fright of my life,” he said.
“Where I was shocked was that for over five minutes people stood there watching as I was on the ground as my girlfriend was shouting for help until eventually the two security came out to scare the thieves away.”
“Thankfully ‘only’ a few cuts on my face and a bruise on my elbow. [My girlfriend] Marta got a hit behind the head trying to protect my head on the ground. Still finding it hard to believe what happened. Be careful everyone going out.”
Roche, son of Ireland’s first and only Tour de France winner Stephen Roche, retired from his 17-year career as a professional cyclist at the end of 2021. He previously rode for AG2R La Mondiale, Tinkoff-Saxo, Team Sky, BMC and most recently DSM.
He was a four-time Irish national champion, split equally between road race and time trial titles, and finished second on a stage of the Tour de France in 2009.
During his career, Roche rode 24 Grand Tours, where his role was generally as a domestique and road captain; he was part of Chris Froome’s winning Tour de France team in 2015.
