BACK ON THE BIKE

Porte’s miracle recovery after horror Tour crash

RICHIE Porte has returned to training six weeks after his highspeed crash at the Tour de France, but he is unlikely to be fit for the UCI road world championships next month.

It’s not known whether Porte will be named in Australia’s long squad for the world titles in Nor- way, but it’s understood he has all but ruled himself out of contention for the final cut.

The 32-year-old Tasmanian was left with a broken collarbone and pelvis/hip from his horror Tour de France crash on July 9.

But he returned to training a fortnight ago with two-to-threehour recovery rides.

Australia’s team for the road worlds is expected to be led by Porte’s friend Michael Matthews and as much as Porte would have liked to be there to support him, the September 17-24 event is too soon after his crash.

“Obviously, the collarbone takes a little longer to recover and my elbow flared up a bit but hopefully that’s nothing too serious,” Porte said after returning to training with BMC. “I’m over the worst of it. Every now and then I still feel some pain in the collarbone and elbow, when I hit a bump in the road for example, but in general my recovery’s on track.

“I started back on the trainers two weeks ago and last Monday I went back on the road for the first time. I’ve been riding every day. Of course I’ve lost a lot of fitness and I’m getting passed on the road, but it’s nice to get the encouragement as they go by.

“I’m still focusing on making a full recovery and we’ll decide down the track whether I race again this year or if a solid block of training is what I need to recover best.”