Richie Porte Discussion Thread.

[jens_attacks]

I have hopes that he will break the record on col d'aspin

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

He's top class in one week races. Even this year, he was pretty good.

Aru and Pinot shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as Porte in one week races.

Yep he is a absolute top shelf 1 week racer which is perfectly fine but keeps chasing some type of GT success, mentioning him alongside Aru or Pinot is just baffling

Pinot only has one podium right? And that in a tour where Contador and Froome crashed out And quintana wasn't there.

I agree with Aru but not with Pinot.

Well Porte and Valverde were still there and neither of them could podium

 

[Brullnux]

Porte has not only not done anything GC wise in a Grand Tour, but apart from a couple of crazy moments as Froome's domestique (Ax 3, PSM) has never done anything of note in a GT, period. When the big guys are peaking, he drops. Apart from one stage every other year when he does weirdly well the pays for it like crazy the next, and never recovers. His problem is not consistency but recovery.

I think his base level is just very good, but struggles to 'super'-peak a lá Nibali, or any other GC contender. That could be another explanation to why he hasn't ever done well in a GT, or two consecutive stages in a GT. We'll see this TDF, with him leading a team for the first time in a GT since last year

But at least this time with no their goals, without thinking ahead to the Tour to work for Froome. His shot, with a team behind him of good climbers like Caruso, to name one.

 

[SeriousSam]

"I lost the time trial in the last 500 meters. I just exploded. I still think that this result is a good sign after not having raced for a month and a half. At the end, I wanted even more. It was an effort that was more suited to small and punchy climbers. I think this is a great way to start the race, it is different from the prologues that are about power and all flat. I think all those who are in the first ranks are in good shape and able to fight in the race. Now the plan is to stay out of trouble until next weekend. This is where the race will be won. So for me, the plan is to save myself until Saturday.

“I’m planning to stay out of trouble for the rest of the stages. We’ve got a strong team and there’s no easy day here really. I think it’s good that Tinkoff have to defend the jersey now. We’ll save it all, as much as we can, for the weekend.”

Lil'Richie believes better pacing could've won him the TT, but as he's here to win, he is quite content with Tinkoff having to do the controlling until the weekend.

Would be great if Lil'Richie could sneak away and win the race whilst Froome stares at his stem and Contador stares at Froome.

 

[Red Rick]

Do we have any reference on Porte in big multi mountain stages? IIRC, he's not been at his best there even as a helper right?
,

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

"I lost the time trial in the last 500 meters. I just exploded. I still think that this result is a good sign after not having raced for a month and a half. At the end, I wanted even more. It was an effort that was more suited to small and punchy climbers. I think this is a great way to start the race, it is different from the prologues that are about power and all flat. I think all those who are in the first ranks are in good shape and able to fight in the race. Now the plan is to stay out of trouble until next weekend. This is where the race will be won. So for me, the plan is to save myself until Saturday.

“I’m planning to stay out of trouble for the rest of the stages. We’ve got a strong team and there’s no easy day here really. I think it’s good that Tinkoff have to defend the jersey now. We’ll save it all, as much as we can, for the weekend.”

Lil'Richie believes better pacing could've won him the TT, but as he's here to win, he is quite content with Tinkoff having to do the controlling until the weekend.

Would be great if Lil'Richie could sneak away and win the race whilst Froome stares at his stem and Contador stares at Froome.

That is where he could have an advantage in the Tour as well. There will be a lot tactics from Movistar, Tinkoff and Sky. BMC won't have to spend as much time on the front and Porte and TJVG can ride more conservatively. Pinot will do the same. I am not saying he will ride away but there will always be hesitation between the more favoured riders as to when to chase or wait for someone else to chase. Froome knows Porte very well and vice versa and Porte will use Sky and their team strength. Of course for Porte the big if, is keeping it together for three weeks and I suppose the same can be said for TJVG. If he is coming into the Dauphine a bit underdone with his fitness that can only be a good sign for Porte re the Tour.

 

[Jancouver]

And the nonsense arrived much faster than I participated.

TLMRP simply took advantage of his strongest card (Willunga Hill like short effort) on a stage where he could also benefit from his Mini-me size and many around here are already talking about his GC ambitions for the Tour.

It's just mindblowing how some people never learn.

 

[damian13ster]

Well, people are free to have different opinions. Personally I believe that this will be a breakthrough performance by Porte and he will at least top 5 if not podium the Tour

 

[StryderHells]

Re:

Yes, he IS the 4th-6th most likely to win the Tour objectively. You are being subjective

How so? I am looking at his record in GT's and basing my assumptions on that, Contador, Froome, Quintana, Aru, Pinot, van Garderen, Rodríguez, Bardet all sit higher than Porte at this stage when it comes to finishing inside the top 10, even Zubeldia is a safer bet than Porte for a top 10 spot

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Yes, he IS the 4th-6th most likely to win the Tour objectively. You are being subjective

How so? I am looking at his record in GT's and basing my assumptions on that, Contador, Froome, Quintana, Aru, Pinot, van Garderen, Rodríguez, Bardet all sit higher than Porte at this stage when it comes to finishing inside the top 10, even Zubeldia is a safer bet than Porte for a top 10 spot

Take a look at the bookmakers for a start.
Yeah, but thats a whole other discussion: likelyhood of winning and top-10, especially for Porte. That goes back to the whole consistency/high ceiling arguments.

Is TJ more likely to win? Nibali? Thomas? Landa?

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

Yes, he IS the 4th-6th most likely to win the Tour objectively. You are being subjective

How so? I am looking at his record in GT's and basing my assumptions on that, Contador, Froome, Quintana, Aru, Pinot, van Garderen, Rodríguez, Bardet all sit higher than Porte at this stage when it comes to finishing inside the top 10, even Zubeldia is a safer bet than Porte for a top 10 spot

Huge difference between a discussion about Porte's odds to finish top 5/10 and Porte's odds to win.

There are several guys more likely to finish top 10 than Porte. But winning and beating the big 3 is a completely different situation.

It's a bit like on completely pan flat stage, in the presence of Kittel, Cav, Greipel etc, you'd have a much higher chance of Nizzolo finishing top 10 than, say, Cummings. But who is more likely to win the stage? I give Nizzolo virtually no chance of beating the big sprinters on a pan flat stage, whereas Cummings at least has a very small chance that an attack in the final 2-3 km will stick and he'll stay away

 

[Zam_Olyas]

The tassie tree hugger will be in great form come this July. He will time his peak form correctly this year.

 

[Jancouver]

The tassie tree hugger will be in great form come this July. He will time his peak form correctly this year.

His lack of GT results is not related to "timing his peak form".

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Yes, he IS the 4th-6th most likely to win the Tour objectively. You are being subjective

How so? I am looking at his record in GT's and basing my assumptions on that, Contador, Froome, Quintana, Aru, Pinot, van Garderen, Rodríguez, Bardet all sit higher than Porte at this stage when it comes to finishing inside the top 10, even Zubeldia is a safer bet than Porte for a top 10 spot

Huge difference between a discussion about Porte's odds to finish top 5/10 and Porte's odds to win.

There are several guys more likely to finish top 10 than Porte. But winning and beating the big 3 is a completely different situation.

Well I don't think Porte can beat the big 3 over 3 weeks, I actually don't think he can beat most of the riders I mentioned over 3 weeks

 

[lenric]

Let's just hope that the stars align and Porte can finally unleash his full potential, whatever that may be, without having a bad day and dropping faster than Lehman Brothers stocks in 2007.

 

[filipepc]

I like him, he his a excelent rider, but... Let´s focous on facts... His GT results are very, very poor... and the truth is that when i think about his capacities as a tt, a climber, a roller, he has it... But in a GT you have to be consistent, and he isn´t... He has always a bad day... I would love to see him make at least a top 5, i think he deserve it, but when i look to his results in a GT, oh my god, it´s very unlike that he can do it...

 

[Night Rider]

And the nonsense arrived much faster than I participated.

<snip>

It's just mindblowing how some people never learn.

Yep, the old re-ignite the LRP thread and watch it go bang trick ... oops that was me

And exactly to your second point.

 

[Night Rider]

Re:

Yes, he IS the 4th-6th most likely to win the Tour objectively. You are being subjective

I think it's objective not subjective to say LRP won't make top 6. He's done 9 GT's and best result is 7th and that's the only top 10. In fact he only has one other top 20 and that's a 19th.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

Yes, he IS the 4th-6th most likely to win the Tour objectively. You are being subjective

I think it's objective not subjective to say LRP won't make top 6. He's done 9 GT's and best result is 7th and that's the only top 10. In fact he only has one other top 20 and that's a 19th.

I believe otherwise, especially since he wasn't the team leader in the majority of the GTs he has rode. When he was, he crashed out.

 

[johnymax]

How about Li'l Richie today. TdF podium imminent

 

[PremierAndrew]

The real test for LRP is tomorrow. He's shown this kind of ability before (eg Ax 3 Domaines and PSM), but then you look at the following day and he's completely collapsed.
Not to mention tomorrow is a multi mountain stage, which he also seems to find relatively difficult.

Today's performance was no surprise. But if LRP performs well again tomorrow, then he will have shown that he has improved significantly since his Sky days.

 

[sir fly]

A credit to Richie.
He's rolling really well.

 

[SeriousSam]

I keenly await his performance tomorrow. Victory in a week long race will of course not dispense with the notion that Lil'Richie can't do 3 week long races, but the performing twice in a row would be an encouraging sign. Collapsing all the way down to Aru/Pinot levels of riding, on the other hand, would be worrying.

I hope it doesn't come down to those seconds he lost in the split.

 

[Miburo]

Porte never really cracked in a one week race iirc. I guess dauphine 2014? but he never really raced for GC there and in romandie this year he was ill orso

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

In 2013, he cracked the day after the first MTF on which he was second only to Froome but he was pretty good again later on, so it seems to be more of a problem of immediately recovering from a hard day in the mountains, rather than the accumulated fatigue.