Nicholas Roche, the recently retired Team DSM rider, will appear on "Dancing with the Stars" in Ireland.

The announcement was made on Sunday and included a teaser image of Roche on the dance floor. The format of the show is for celebrities to be paired with professional dancers, train them, and dance with them in a live show.

Roche retired in October after the Irish Road Race Championships, ending his 17-year professional career. He won two stages at the Vuelta a España, finishing fifth and sixth overall, and was 12th overall at the Tour de France, as well as second in numerous stages.

At the time, he told Cyclingnews that he wanted to work on several projects, including continuing the commentary work he had done for Eurosport. His latest news, however, concerns a completely different type of television work. This has generated a lot of reaction from the peloton and other social media outlets since Sunday's announcement.

"There have been some good comments. A lot of them have said 'brave' and 'good luck,'" he told Cycling News with a laugh. [because] you've never danced in your life, you go into a show, you're required to do a new dance every week, and you only have a couple of weeks to be able to do whatever it is that you're doing ...... That's already a difficult thing to do as a dancer. But that's the excitement."

Other former pros who have taken this route include former sprinter Mario Cipollini, who competed in the Italian version of the program in 2005, and Michael Rasmussen, the double king of the Tour de France mountains, who competed in the Danish version in 2010. Both were eliminated in the sixth round.

Roche told Cycling News that he has already begun training with a partner, although his name has not yet been released. The show will air in January.

He suggests that his competitive spirit is alive and well, although his dancing ability has been tempered." I'm going to commit," he said. 'I'm going to practice hard and try to dance well.' But when you see me on the bike, I'm already pretty stiff. So imagine the dance floor (laughs).

"A lot of my close friends and family are really looking forward to it and are very supportive and helping me. Like I said before, I can't dance. So I know how hard this trip will be. But they're very interested because they know how willing I've been to do everything.

"I've always given 100 percent. And they know I'm going to put 100 percent into this as well. I think my first live show is January 9, so people are curious to see how I go from basically having no dance skills to dancing on TV and doing shows."

Since his retirement, Roche has launched a new cycling and triathlon store with his Roca Sports business partner Thomas Cahill in Cork, helped a school friend set up an athletic gym in London, for which he has made over 700 training videos, and is busy vacationing in Dubai and trying to maintain his fitness as much as possible.

"I've been very, very busy. I don't think I've been back to Monaco for seven days since I retired," he said. I'm on my bike three times a week. I ride my bike three times a week. I would like to ride more, but I don't have time right now. So I'm riding my bike about three times a week and running twice a week."

"Right now I'm still thinking about making 2022. Once I get settled, I hope to have more time to ride my bike again. I want to race gravel and do all kinds of things. So I'm looking forward to getting into it in earnest in the spring."

When Roche retired, he said he intended to work with Trinity Sports agent Andrew McQuaid, but wasn't sure what kind of work he would be doing; in 2022, he plans to coach the MTB team and work with the riders during the season.

But first, he has the problem of turning his lack of dancing ability into something a little more competitive.

"I was happy to see my name mentioned on this show. It's not your average reality show. This is really, really a test. I don't want to put a spin on Big Brother or anything, but I can't be the celebrity in the room just trying to interact with people. It's a tougher challenge, and it's a personal challenge on many levels."

One of those challenges is to exude a sense of confidence, even if he is in a completely new environment.

"It's okay to dance on the dance floor. It's okay to make mistakes. But on live TV, mistakes are not allowed. You just have to go along with it. Hands, feet, learning the steps, facial expressions, body language, posture ....... Keep your shoulders straight...

"In cycling, you are always humble. You must show confidence through your shoulders, chest, face, everything. There's a lot more emotion and something more to dance than just being strong like in a bike race. I think it will be very interesting."