Richie’s new quest
TASSIE CYCLING STAR SETS GOALS FOR 2021
TOUR de France star Richie Porte is back riding on Tasmanian roads preparing for a 2021 with a new team and new goal.
The 35- year- old cyclist is back with Ineos Grenadiers ( formerly Team Sky), which he hopes will open the opportunity for a grand tour stage win.
RICHIE Porte’s breakthrough Tour de France performance has fuelled the Tassie tyro’s belief he can remain a grand tour contender in his twilight years, despite switching teams and shifting into a support role.
Porte, who is back home in Launceston until the middle of February, fulfilled a life long ambition by finishing third at last year’s Tour — becoming just the second Australian to reach the podium.
It ended years of heartbreak which included several crashes when he was considered a strong chance to join Cadel Evans as a winner of the most gruelling event on the planet.
The soon to be 36- year- old has returned to Ineos Grenadiers ( formally Team Sky, who he raced for between 2012- 15), considered the strongest team in the peloton, with a host of leaders in Egan Bernal, Richard Carapaz and Geraint Thomas. While aware of his responsibilities, Porte also now has confidence should opportunity arise, he can still mix it with the best athletes in the world.
“Obviously I have won some decent bike races back in Europe but the Tour is the pinnacle of the sport, so to achieve a long- term goal, I’m 35 now and thought I had missed my opportunity to finally nail the podium of a grand tour,” Porte told the Mercury.
“It is something I will never forget, to stand there on the podium in Paris, it was a dream come true.
“You just never know what is going to happen in a three week race, guys crash, guys get sick and things like that.
“I know what I am signing with Ineos to do, and that’s go and support some of the best riders in the world in the Tour but at the same time I think last year being on the podium, I proved if I don’t have any disasters myself then I can still do it. If things do go pear shaped for those guys, it would be nice to have the firepower and backing of a team like Ineos.
“It is not my hope that happens, but if the opportunity is there, then I feel capable of doing it again.”
Porte’s two- year deal with Ineos will most likely see out his professional career, but there is plenty of gas left in the tank to chase individual accolades.
“I would love to tick off an individual stage of the Tour or the Giro d’Italia or Vuelta Espana, that’s definitely something I would like to do,’’ he said.
“I’ve been part of a team time trial win at the Tour which was amazing, but it doesn’t go down as your victory. But we will cross that bridge when we get there I suppose.”
For now Porte is enjoying ticking his legs over on the familiar Scottsdale roads, free from the restrictions engulfing Europe due to COVID- 19.
Even a two- week hard quarantine in a hotel Perth room with wife Gemma and children Luca and Eloise came with a silver lining.
“It wasn’t the easiest, being an athlete and someone who spends the majority of time outside riding a bike, it was strange to be cooped up like that,’’ he said.
“But wearing a mask every time you step out doors in Europe to coming back to Tassie where it is almost non existent … it was definitely worth all the torture for the normality we get back here.
“The silver lining to that was two weeks of family time which is hard to get, and also toilet training our son worked out quite well in the hotel room too.”
Porte’s first event of 2021 will be at the Santos Festival Of Cycling in Adelaide this month.