Porte’s pain equally felt by his teammate Gerrans

CYCLING: Barely 12 months ago, Simon Gerrans was convinced to delay retirement by a phone call from Richie Porte.

Porte’s request to his fellow Australian was simple – join BMC and help him win the Tour de France – but far more difficult to execute. A year on, Porte’s Tour campaign would once again be over inside nine days after another crash.

“I crashed and hit the ground when Richie did. I think I was still sliding down the road and I’m on the race radio saying, ‘Richie’s crashed! Richie’s crashed!’” Gerrans said yesterday.

“I picked myself up and the first thing I did was found out where he was to see if he needed a bike or anything, and straight away he had his hand on his shoulder.

“He said, ‘I think I’ve done my collarbone.’ I said ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I’m pretty sure.’

“I went to try and scramble for a bike to get going myself because I knew his Tour was done.

“The reality of what had happened only kicked in a couple of kays up the road ... I was just devastated for a while there.

“I thought ‘S---, I’ve got to survive this stage, but what am I here for?’ My big goal for the race was to support Richie and now he’s out. Honestly, for that whole stage I was pretty down in the dumps.”

Porte flew home on Monday’s rest day.

TEAM Sky have taken a stranglehold on the race, with Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome sitting one-two after stage 11.