Champion cyclist Nicolas Roche has opened up about finding new love after breaking his hip during a race.
The son of Tour De France legend Stephen Roche married Deborah Robbles in Monaco in 2015 but there marriage lasted just a year before they ended their relationship and finalised their divorced in 2017.
Nicolas, who also appeared on RTE’s Dancing With The Stars in 2022, described his divorce as ‘catastrophic’, revealed his Dubliner father never approved of the marriage.
They met again about four months later at another race, and this time they went for a coffee.
‘It took another two months, then in July we decided to take it a step further. By August, we were officially dating.’
They don’t live together. She has a fulltime job in Barcelona with her own sports rehab centre for injured athletes.
And Nicolas said he would consider getting married again, saying: ‘The door is open again. I spoke with my mum and she said, cautiously: “At some point in your life you deserve a normal part of life, too.”‘
Nicolas Roche was so wrapped up in cycling he could barely send a formal email when he retired
