Richie Porte Discussion Thread.

[Jelantik]

Lil' Richie has finally revealed to the world what a massive Choad he is, to put it in LA's terms !
He would be better off riding for Orica, in a more laid-back team with his Australian mates.

maybe they can have "the kumbaya swapping wheel party".... kumbaaayyyaaaa my looooordd.. kumbayaaaaaa..

btw, does everyone want to bet if lil' Richie will DNS on tuesday or continue?

 

[Rollthedice]

Lil' Richie has finally revealed to the world what a massive Choad he is, to put it in LA's terms !
He would be better off riding for Orica, in a more laid-back team with his Australian mates.

maybe they can have "the kumbaya swapping wheel party".... kumbaaayyyaaaa my looooordd.. kumbayaaaaaa..

btw, does everyone want to bet if lil' Richie will DNS on tuesday or continue?

He is already on a plane to Tenerife while the motorhome has left the parking, destination unknown.

 

[TommyGun]

Lil' Richie has finally revealed to the world what a massive Choad he is, to put it in LA's terms !
He would be better off riding for Orica, in a more laid-back team with his Australian mates.

maybe they can have "the kumbaya swapping wheel party".... kumbaaayyyaaaa my looooordd.. kumbayaaaaaa..

btw, does everyone want to bet if lil' Richie will DNS on tuesday or continue?

He is already on a plane to Tenerife while the motorhome has left the parking, destination unknown.

I am already looking forward to seeing footage of the motorhome leaving the Giro, this is priceless

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

we can officially stop discussing rp as a potential future gc contender.
still a great rider... over 10 days, tops.
and a great domestique for an elite gc guy.

I'm 90% in agreement. There's still that little bit of doubt due to the crash and the injuries sustained from it.

I agree with this - because we are not the ones injured there is still some doubt in Porte's favour to still have genuine gc potential. But what has concerned me is how Richie responds when placed under adversity. Yes his knee may be legitimately injured but it does seem like he's thrown in the towel mentally.

On the slip side neither do we know the true extent of Contador's shoulder dislocation - it does not seem to have affected his power at all and Tinkov seemed to be playing it up to maximise publicity.

But to win a Grand Tour there is always some things that don't go to plan. Even in 2011 when Contador was fatigued from the Giro and also hurt his knee in the early stages he still fought on, lit up the race in the Alpes and did a great TT on the penultimate stage of that race despite having little to race for at that point.[/quote]

that's exactly the point. You also need to have a mental like a steel, when things go sideways. Porte seems to lost mentally as soon as he got mechanical .. then after got docked 2 minutes, his head suddenly just exploded w/ disappointment. He was practically fine physically but mentally melt down. To say he injured his hip and knee, well, contador still rode his bike with fracture leg after he crashed at TDF before climbed off. Froomey tried to continue to ride during the cobble stage in the rain with 2 broken wrist. Purito hide his broken rib from the crash in the classic to ride how many stages? is it 7? until he crashed again before he bow out the Giro. Cadel fracture his elbow and stayed in the race. Hamilton broke his collarbone and stayed in the race. Did Richie break any bone or is it his mental that has broken to piece? So far we only know that he injured his hip and his knee? (ok, maybe it's too harsh since we don't know what the extend of his injury). but my point is.. we have seen a real GC contender, time after time, who stays in the race even if their chance isn't their anymore. If he can't overcome his disappointment, maybe next year he'll get the same adversity then he'll just throw the towel again.

 

[Tonton]

In the Netserk style:

Porte is like Nevermind: Not good and way overrated.

What?! Nevermind is the bomb.

Meh, one good song, plus fillers.

2 good songs: Something in the Way and In Bloom.

OK, I give you that. The rest of the album, I can do in my garage . And the Black Album $ucks And Ritchie showed that he's a Hincapie clone. Bad luck as very little if anything to do with his demise. As a pro you should know the rules. Period. And so much for Sky the great team: leaving your leader isolated. Black (Album) eye for Sky...

 

[thehook]

Why can't Lil' Richie dominate like he planned to all season? I'm really curious. He has all the marginal gains. And a really nice Motorhome.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

Being the best domestique in SKY does not necessarily make you the best bet for GC in a GT
It amazes me how people think because you can climb & TT you can lead and win a GT....

Climbing and TTing are 2 out of the 3 attributes you need to do well in GTs. Porte was really unlucky this Giro. Depending on what exactly caused him to have such a poor time trial, he might still be a terrific time triallist. I mean, why are people praising Aru so much? Up to the TT, Aru was weaker than Porte.

To be fair, he wasn't the only one who's unlucky though. Contador dislocated his shoulder and injured his leg. He crashed twice already and lost all his lead advantage. He suffered injury but he is still fighting. Uran has been sick since the start of the Giro, he is still fighting. Richie's puncture got worse because none of his team was around him to give him the wheel (sky made the bad luck from bad to worse w/ how the team supported him). As soon as, he was down 5 minutes, he crashed with Contador, instead of getting bike from his team mate, he just fiddled w/ his bike. So clearly, at that stage, he has already given up.

Up until now, none of the contender this year has the advantage of being spare from bad luck (except Aru). And ironically, none of them has nothing to do with their leg either. But how you deal with your bad luck is determined how strong you are mentally. Cadel Evan is an good example. Was he holding the yellow jersey then he crashed and fractured his elbow or something (can't remember)? And he finally finished outside podium? All years, we saw riders overcome bad luck and set back in GT. But if you are GC contender, don't you think you should at least try to finish it or improve his position. Sure it means nothing probably, but that fighting back spirit might teach him something about himself.

If we mention these mental weaknesses then we must also say that he crashed in Paris-Nice on the penultimate day, which could have cost him the win, only to pick himself up and win the race the next day.

Oddly I still think he has a complete grand tour win or podium in him in spite of all of the doubts. It's just a feeling.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Being the best domestique in SKY does not necessarily make you the best bet for GC in a GT
It amazes me how people think because you can climb & TT you can lead and win a GT....

Climbing and TTing are 2 out of the 3 attributes you need to do well in GTs. Porte was really unlucky this Giro. Depending on what exactly caused him to have such a poor time trial, he might still be a terrific time triallist. I mean, why are people praising Aru so much? Up to the TT, Aru was weaker than Porte.

To be fair, he wasn't the only one who's unlucky though. Contador dislocated his shoulder and injured his leg. He crashed twice already and lost all his lead advantage. He suffered injury but he is still fighting. Uran has been sick since the start of the Giro, he is still fighting. Richie's puncture got worse because none of his team was around him to give him the wheel (sky made the bad luck from bad to worse w/ how the team supported him). As soon as, he was down 5 minutes, he crashed with Contador, instead of getting bike from his team mate, he just fiddled w/ his bike. So clearly, at that stage, he has already given up.

Up until now, none of the contender this year has the advantage of being spare from bad luck (except Aru). And ironically, none of them has nothing to do with their leg either. But how you deal with your bad luck is determined how strong you are mentally. Cadel Evan is an good example. Was he holding the yellow jersey then he crashed and fractured his elbow or something (can't remember)? And he finally finished outside podium? All years, we saw riders overcome bad luck and set back in GT. But if you are GC contender, don't you think you should at least try to finish it or improve his position. Sure it means nothing probably, but that fighting back spirit might teach him something about himself.

If we mention these mental weaknesses then we must also say that he crashed in Paris-Nice on the penultimate day, which could have cost him the win, only to pick himself up and win the race the next day.

Oddly I still think he has a complete grand tour win or podium in shim in spite of all of the doubts. It's just a feeling.

Yes I feel the same. It's hilarious that many of the people on here that said he should continue are now berating him for losing big time yesterday. Makes about as much sense as anything else. He should not have started the stage. I remember when Cadel Evans had two miserable Tours for different reasons in 2009 and 2010 he was copping the same criticism as Porte is now. He would never win a GT, he is done and so on and that was with a guy who had already podiumed two Tours ! And Evans was on a different level to Porte so it is good to see that some of the fans like to share their vitriol amongst other riders. If De Gendt and Rodriguez can podium a Giro, and Horner, Cobo and Hesjedal win a GT, I think Porte can at least podium one.

 

[dolophonic]

Re: Re:

The fact that he/sky arnt really saying anything is telling.. when things are looking good they hold all kinds of press conferences.
Reality is LRP has not really looked good all Giro, he was always slow to respond and at Imola, the day he should have ridden with "Fire in his Belly"
He was nowhere .. all the talk wa Aru got dropped but LRP was not there as well.
I was hoping he would show us all what he is made of...
Conta had the crash and could have mad a lot of excuses.. come to think of it, thats a good reason to like Conta, he never makes excuses... he races.

Memory span of a mockingbird?
Just this Giro he already made tons of excuses, even though everyone saw he was fine and his climbing or position of a bike wasn't affected at all.

I think its actually Porte who is not making any excuses. The only really complaint you heard from a man wasn't even directed to a media, it was just a short statement to team doctor saying his knee is fu**** so he can't do a cooldown.
And this is from a man who got a puncture, a 2 minute penalty and crashed, so Contador is much bigger p**** when it comes to complaining, although he is a superior rider.

No need to insult .. You seem to have the issue.. LRP and his motor home ... And yes Conta is the superior rider there we agree..

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Re:

Oddly I still think he has a complete grand tour win or podium in shim in spite of all of the doubts. It's just a feeling.

It must be the kind of GT where everything goes smoothly though.
Like you have the best team, you never crash, you never have a mechanical, weather is ok, etc.


Anyway what's next for Richie? TdF as a domestique? He's going to be leader in any other race this season?

 

[mrhender]

As expected...

Richie Porte withdraws from Giro d'Italia due to injury

http://www1.skysports.com/cycling/news/21683/9864417/richie-porte-withdraws-from-giro-ditalia-due-to-injury

 

[DBotero]

Re:

As expected...

Richie Porte withdraws from Giro d'Italia due to injury

http://www1.skysports.com/cycling/news/21683/9864417/richie-porte-withdraws-from-giro-ditalia-due-to-injury

No surprise really,he should have done it earlier.No point in crawling himself around for the delight of some forum members for which the level of hate for this guy is reaching new heights.Richie had an amazing season after all except this horrible Giro,now it's time to recover and come back stronger.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Tour podium next goal now.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Richie says

"I'm gutted it’s ended this way and that I can’t stay and support Leo, Elia and the team in the last week."

tinge of hypocrisy here?
Hope he leaves Leo K the motorhome - or perhaps it's cursed somehow.

 

[pastronef]

Re: Re:

As expected...

Richie Porte withdraws from Giro d'Italia due to injury

http://www1.skysports.com/cycling/news/21683/9864417/richie-porte-withdraws-from-giro-ditalia-due-to-injury

No surprise really,he should have done it earlier.No point in crawling himself around for the delight of some forum members for which the level of hate for this guy is reaching new heights.Richie had an amazing season after all except this horrible Giro,now it's time to recover and come back stronger.

agree.
better go home, rest and wait for July.

 

[Miburo]

the motorhome story is hilarious, god i love sky. They always make me laugh xD

 

[Hugo Koblet]

What's this whole motorhome/RV story all about?

 

[Vino's Mum]

Re:

What's this whole motorhome/RV story all about?

In Formula 1: get the drivers the mother of all motorhomes, they're clearly a few levels above the rest of the team bar the head honchos, it's not like it's ever for three weeks, and they can sleep at the circuit. Great idea.

In cycling: get your top boy a large campervan, and annoy his team-mates (see Leo's quotes from yesterday) and the staff at every hotel in Italy, and he can sleep in a different car park every night. Not such a great idea.

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

Pathetic article trying to create the narrative it was the full legit decision of his ban ruining his race:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/porte-exclusive-i-guess-thats-cycling-its-a-cruel-sport

 

[Carols]

Originally I felt sorry for him. But never once has he or team Sky accepted responsibility for his time penalty. By day 3 I'd had my fill of the continued weeping, gnashing of teeth and 'unfair' BS about it. Yes cycling is a cruel sport always has been, always will be. It helps if you don't break the rules and feel sorry for yourself when penalized. That works in life also!

 

[hrotha]

Porte sure gets a lot of media attention for someone who was top 10 in a GT once, 5 years ago.

 

[Carols]

Re:

Porte sure gets a lot of media attention for someone who was top 10 in a GT once, 5 years ago.

Well he did have the results and form coming into this race that made him one of the top 3 favorites. But the dream is over, the man just isn't a 3 week rider at the level to win. Maybe he could podium the Vuelta, but he is 30 already. He should just stick to 1 week races, where he does very well.

 

[Netserk]

No one who really thought they could challenge for the win would have a program like Porte had before the Giro. He would have faded badly in the third week without any crashes as well.

 

[the sceptic]

Re:

Richie says

"I'm gutted it’s ended this way and that I can’t stay and support Leo, Elia and the team in the last week."

tinge of hypocrisy here?
Hope he leaves Leo K the motorhome - or perhaps it's cursed somehow.

why can't he stay and support them?

this gives me more respect for Froome, at least he soldiers on and helps others if he isn't alien himself, but Porte is just a douchebag who quits at the first sign of trouble.

hopefully this relegates him to permanent domestique status.

 

[SlickMongoose]

Re: Re:

Richie says

"I'm gutted it’s ended this way and that I can’t stay and support Leo, Elia and the team in the last week."

tinge of hypocrisy here?
Hope he leaves Leo K the motorhome - or perhaps it's cursed somehow.

why can't he stay and support them?

He's injured?