Porte looks to keep Tour Down Under trophy in Aussie hands

ADELAIDE, Aus t ra l i a : Australia’s Richie Porte will head into this week’s Tour Down Under in South Australia as the clear favourite to win the UCI seasonopening event for the second consecutive year.

Porte stormed to a 48- second win over Colombian rider Estevan Chavez in the 2017 edition to claim his maiden victory in the race, the fourth year in a row that an Australian won the title.

The race, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary, takes place in the south of the country on the streets of Adelaide and through the surrounding countryside.

It begins on Tuesday with a 145kilometre stage from Port Adelaide to the Barossa Valley wine-growing town of Lyndoch, and finishes on Sunday with a street race through inner city Adelaide.

The race will once again feature its iconic penultimate stage which has two climbs up Willunga Hill, where tens of thousands of fans line the road in scenes reminiscent of the Tour De France mountain stages.

This stage is also where the race is often decided, as it was in 2017 when Porte left all the other riders in his wake to open an insurmountable lead.

However, the Tasmanian downplayed his chances this year.

“I would love to win another Wil lunga,” he said. “For me personally, it would be a great way to start the season, and try to win this race again.” — AFP