Richie Porte

BMC

ccording to Chris Froome (Sky), Richie Porte is the favourite to win the Tour de France, and who would disagree? With six wins to his name already this year, including victory in the Tour Down Under and the Tour de Romandie, plus a close second in the Critérium du Dauphiné in which he administered a sound beating in the direction of Froome, Porte may well be starting to believe it himself.

The traditional stumbling block when it comes to backing the Australian in a Grand Tour has been — as the euphemism goes — his apparent inability to ‘stay out of trouble’. Crashes, injuries, illness and even time penalties have colluded in the past to scotch Porte’s ambition, even after similarly promising starts to the year.

However, last year after a move to BMC and unburdened of domestique duties for Froome, he rode to an impressive fifth overall — his best Grand Tour yet. What’s more, he enjoyed a consistent race to the end — an answer perhaps to the critics who have riled him with those constant ‘bad day’ jibes.

The Australian also finished this month’s Dauphiné less than pleased with certain rivals, whom he accused of racing negatively simply to prevent him winning. It left a sour taste, he implied, that might offer him a little extra impetus in the Tour.

“[Alejandro] Valverde and Froome obviously didn’t want to see me win the race,” he said after the final stage, adding: “You don’t forget that come July. Maybe I have a favour to repay.”

Porte is clearly a formidable opponent — even more so without any long individual time trials to contend with this year — and he is enjoying a new lease of life at BMC. If he can, dare we say it, stay out of trouble, he could well live up to his new-found ‘favourite’ status next month.