Richie Porte Discussion Thread.

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

That isn't arrogance. It's just stating facts. In Sky he would have no chance of riding the Tour for the victory.

At BMC he has no chance either. Rather third in the Tour than a win in the Giro or Vuelta it seems. Enough reason for me to dislike him. Has never tried winning the Tour this year either, has only made one attack so far during the whole race.

Arcalis, Ventoux, Finhaut-Emosson.

The only place he didn't attack was peyresourde

True dat.

But haters gonna hate. And if he attacked from a long way out he'd be accused of being arrogant

It's not arrogance if you can back your words up.

It's not arrogant if you're right, that's true.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

That isn't arrogance. It's just stating facts. In Sky he would have no chance of riding the Tour for the victory.

At BMC he has no chance either. Rather third in the Tour than a win in the Giro or Vuelta it seems. Enough reason for me to dislike him. Has never tried winning the Tour this year either, has only made one attack so far during the whole race.

He has attacked more times than Quintana. And he lost time twice without any fault.
Plus, he only has one top-ten. Getting a third place is a wonderful result to him and to his team. I don't see why you're whining so much, but ok lol

Quintana is the most boring and conservative rider there is (in his talent category anyway), not sure why you think he's a good comparison. I don't think third is a wonderful result, but oh well.

You're biased, since you fancy Contador. For a rider like him, third place is crap.
For a rider like Porte, who only has one top-10, getting a podium in the greatest GT of all is a wonderful result. If you fail to see this, then I believe it's time wasted to be talking to you about this subject.

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

Re: Re:

I don't really like Porte's arrogance, as if the Giro and Vuelta are beneath him. Now lesser riders (at least it seems so) like Fabio Aru have a better palmares than him already: 3 Giro stages, 2 Vuelta stages and overall GC.

The same Porte that targeted the Giro last year?

Because he was forced to. And he quickly gave up once he lost those 2 minutes.

And you call that arrogance? lol

Saying stuff like "I didn't leave Sky to race races like the Giro and Vuelta, otherwise I would've stayed at Sky" is arrogant when you have achieved nothing in Grand Tours. I wouldn't be surprised if he thinks he's better than Nibali or Contador.

But he is objectively better than Contador who mainly targets the lesser GTs.

 

[SeriousSam]

He's 2nd in GC on ability. Not bad.

 

[movingtarget]

Podium battle looks like going down to the wire. the next two stages should be good with so many riders close on GC. Yates and Mollema and Quintana are coming back to the field. Bardet, Aru and Porte are looking fresher at this stage. But Aru looks too far back now.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

That isn't arrogance. It's just stating facts. In Sky he would have no chance of riding the Tour for the victory.

At BMC he has no chance either. Rather third in the Tour than a win in the Giro or Vuelta it seems. Enough reason for me to dislike him. Has never tried winning the Tour this year either, has only made one attack so far during the whole race.

Arcalis, Ventoux, Finhaut-Emosson.

The only place he didn't attack was peyresourde

I don't call tempo riding at the front an attack, but to each their own.

I suggest you re-watch the two stages where you think he didn't attack

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

That isn't arrogance. It's just stating facts. In Sky he would have no chance of riding the Tour for the victory.

At BMC he has no chance either. Rather third in the Tour than a win in the Giro or Vuelta it seems. Enough reason for me to dislike him. Has never tried winning the Tour this year either, has only made one attack so far during the whole race.

Arcalis, Ventoux, Finhaut-Emosson.

The only place he didn't attack was peyresourde

I don't call tempo riding at the front an attack, but to each their own.

I suggest you re-watch the two stages where you think he didn't attack

If Porte has been bad in the mountains what does it say about the rest and he has to attack tomorrow and Saturday as well. People obviously see what they want to see. Fans and their favourites or non favourites !

 

[yaco]

Porte has bèen a touch disappointing Over the the two TT's. Would have expected to make more time on his GC rivals.

 

[Kwibus]

Porte is 2 days away from smacking all the people in the face that said he can't perform over 3 weeks.

I have no affinity for him, but I really do hope he doesn't crack just to proof all the doomsayers wrong.

 

[Cookster15]

Re:

Porte has bèen a touch disappointing Over the the two TT's. Would have expected to make more time on his GC rivals.

Porte was a touch disappointing in the 1st TT. Today's TT he was where he could be expected considering how he has been riding in the mountains - about 30" behind Froome. He made good time on all his other GC rivals today except Aru who did the same time and Bardet who rode above expectation. Another strong effort from LRP and still not showing any signs of fading.

Here are today's time gaps between Porte and his GC rivals:

Froome -33sec
Porte/Aru Zero
Bardet +9 sec
Quintana +37sec
Valverde +45 sec
Yates +50 sec
Mollema +52 sec

Two big mountain stages to come. Porte is 1:08 off 2nd (Mollema) and 44 sec off 3rd (Yates). If he is still able to attack as he did yesterday someone above him is going to crack before this is over.

 

[DBotero]

A good day for Porte,one step closer to the podium.Kinda expected him to take more time but still 2 hard stages to come and everything is possible.

 

[SeriousSam]

Unless he cracks, he'll have demonstrated that he can win the tour when Froome isn't there. Which is the most every other GT rider in the world can claim to.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re:

Unless he cracks, he'll have demonstrated that he can win the tour when Froome isn't there. Which is the most every other GT rider in the world can claim to.

But two other riders have already won plenty of GTs, while Porte has nothing, not even a stage win. You know, those two riders who are not riding for GC in this Tour... At best Porte can claim he can win a Tour if Nibali, Contador and Froome are not there. And who knows if Quintana will be this weak next year.

 

[Fergoose]

Porte has never ridden as a leader before so there is no comparison. For me Porte has clearly been the second strongest in this race and would be a comfortable second but for the puncture. At the beginning of the season Astana picked Aru over Nibali for the tour, and Porte has outclassed Aru.

I reckon Sky will continue to shut down any attacks that aren't from Porte and try and give Porte a chance of getting the podium. The problem for Porte is his attacks have faded quite quickly with Mollema and Yates having quickly closed down his last two. I think he'll miss out on the podium unless we get the ridiculous sight of Froome pacing him up the side of a mountain.

 

[Cookster15]

Froome quote after today's TT when asked who his strongest rival would be in the remaining mountains:

Obviously, Richie did a very good ride yesterday," he said. "He was the only one who really took the race and he rode a really strong race at the front. In my opinion, Richie looks like the rider with the most to gain in these next couple of stages. Obviously, he had some back luck earlier in the race, and it's a shame that he lost that time earlier on. If he continues the way he is then, he'll be on the podium in Paris

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

Unless he cracks, he'll have demonstrated that he can win the tour when Froome isn't there. Which is the most every other GT rider in the world can claim to.

But two other riders have already won plenty of GTs, while Porte has nothing, not even a stage win. You know, those two riders who are not riding for GC in this Tour... At best Porte can claim he can win a Tour if Nibali, Contador and Froome are not there. And who knows if Quintana will be this weak next year.

I doubt Nibali or Contador would be much closer to Froome than luck adjusted Porte. I think Porte's best level is sufficient to challenge them and have a decent chance of triumphing when they show up in their typical shape.

For that matter, so is Aru's if he can get more consistent throughout the 3 weeks.

 

[kenk09]

He's getting stronger in the 3rd week too, which is good to see. Obviously two tough days still to come, but I love the way he's making his detractors move the goalposts after every stage.

It's hard not to see him as Froome's biggest challenger next year.

 

[filipepc]

Probably we will see Froome attacking and help Porte going with him.

If he gets the podium is a good bonus to him, lets see if finally he´ll have some spectacle in this tour, even if it is for 2 and 3 place.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

Unless he cracks, he'll have demonstrated that he can win the tour when Froome isn't there. Which is the most every other GT rider in the world can claim to.

But two other riders have already won plenty of GTs, while Porte has nothing, not even a stage win. You know, those two riders who are not riding for GC in this Tour... At best Porte can claim he can win a Tour if Nibali, Contador and Froome are not there. And who knows if Quintana will be this weak next year.

I doubt Nibali or Contador would be much closer to Froome than luck adjusted Porte. I think Porte's best level is sufficient to challenge them and have a decent chance of triumphing when they show up in their typical shape.

For that matter, so is Aru's if he can get more consistent throughout the 3 weeks.

Porte hasn't done anything remotely impressive so far this Tour. And the competition is very weak. It's quite obvious Froome is riding with the handbrake on.

 

[Cookster15]

Re:

He's getting stronger in the 3rd week too, which is good to see. Obviously two tough days still to come, but I love the way he's making his detractors move the goalposts after every stage.

It's hard not to see him as Froome's biggest challenger next year.

Lets not get carried away. This depends if Nibali targets the Tour and if Quintana works out what went wrong this year. But you right about the moving goal posts and the best part is seeing GC team leader LRP make his critics eat their words. His immediate problem for next two days might be that Froome is so far ahead Sky won't react to attacks by Astana. Aru is obviously peaking now and if both Aru and Nibali attack if the Skybots ease up Porte could be left lacking ammo.

 

[Cookster15]

What would you consider "remotely" impressive Pistolero? I felt attacking and distancing everyone but Froome on Emosson was rather impressive. Today Froome seems to think Porte is the strongest of the GC rivals. Then there is Porte's attitude, he still sounds confident and positive after today's TT:-

There are some big mountains and hopefully it's hard enough to take some more time out of some of these GC guys.

I can understand you are disappointed with AC's predicament but we need to give credit where it is due. Porte is riding very well. Of course he will never be an Alberto Contador but it's still great to see after all the irrational crap he copped.

 

[kenk09]

Re: Re:

He's getting stronger in the 3rd week too, which is good to see. Obviously two tough days still to come, but I love the way he's making his detractors move the goalposts after every stage.

It's hard not to see him as Froome's biggest challenger next year.

Lets not get carried away. This depends if Nibali targets the Tour and if Quintana works out what went wrong this year. But you right about the moving goal posts and the best part is seeing GC team leader LRP make his critics eat their words. His immediate problem for next two days might be that Froome is so far ahead Sky won't react to attacks by Astana. Aru is obviously peaking now and if both Aru and Nibali attack if the Skybots ease up Porte could be left lacking ammo.

On his day I think he's a top 3 climber in the world. On his day, and on the right course, he's an upper echelon TT rider - certainly among the GC guys. He's shown he's as good a one-week stage racer as we have. He doesn't seem to be stricken by fear of Froome in the way others are. He's shown he can live with the Sky train and attack off of that pace (including doing it for Sky).

If he can do the three weeks, and that is still a question, I think he's the likely closest challenger. We will find out in the next year or so!

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

Unless he cracks, he'll have demonstrated that he can win the tour when Froome isn't there. Which is the most every other GT rider in the world can claim to.

But two other riders have already won plenty of GTs, while Porte has nothing, not even a stage win. You know, those two riders who are not riding for GC in this Tour... At best Porte can claim he can win a Tour if Nibali, Contador and Froome are not there. And who knows if Quintana will be this weak next year.

I doubt Nibali or Contador would be much closer to Froome than luck adjusted Porte. I think Porte's best level is sufficient to challenge them and have a decent chance of triumphing when they show up in their typical shape.

For that matter, so is Aru's if he can get more consistent throughout the 3 weeks.

Porte hasn't done anything remotely impressive so far this Tour. And the competition is very weak. It's quite obvious Froome is riding with the handbrake on.

Well, at least he's there being the strongest after Froome. Contador can't even ride a Tour without falling twice off his bike. Hence, for a Contador fan, Porte has the wonderful ability of not falling off a bike while riding the Tour.

Really, stop with the non-sense mate.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Unless he cracks, he'll have demonstrated that he can win the tour when Froome isn't there. Which is the most every other GT rider in the world can claim to.

But two other riders have already won plenty of GTs, while Porte has nothing, not even a stage win. You know, those two riders who are not riding for GC in this Tour... At best Porte can claim he can win a Tour if Nibali, Contador and Froome are not there. And who knows if Quintana will be this weak next year.

I doubt Nibali or Contador would be much closer to Froome than luck adjusted Porte. I think Porte's best level is sufficient to challenge them and have a decent chance of triumphing when they show up in their typical shape.

For that matter, so is Aru's if he can get more consistent throughout the 3 weeks.

Porte hasn't done anything remotely impressive so far this Tour. And the competition is very weak. It's quite obvious Froome is riding with the handbrake on.

He has been the second best rider so far. I wouldn't call it 'not even remotely impressive', but whatever fits your agenda. Same nonsense, different subject I assume

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

Unless he cracks, he'll have demonstrated that he can win the tour when Froome isn't there. Which is the most every other GT rider in the world can claim to.

But two other riders have already won plenty of GTs, while Porte has nothing, not even a stage win. You know, those two riders who are not riding for GC in this Tour... At best Porte can claim he can win a Tour if Nibali, Contador and Froome are not there. And who knows if Quintana will be this weak next year.

I doubt Nibali or Contador would be much closer to Froome than luck adjusted Porte. I think Porte's best level is sufficient to challenge them and have a decent chance of triumphing when they show up in their typical shape.

For that matter, so is Aru's if he can get more consistent throughout the 3 weeks.

Porte hasn't done anything remotely impressive so far this Tour. And the competition is very weak. It's quite obvious Froome is riding with the handbrake on.

He has been the second best rider so far. I wouldn't call it 'not even remotely impressive', but whatever fits your agenda. Same nonsense, different subject I assume

Barely distancing the great Bauke Mollema. It's not impressive no. You act like he beat a top form Nibali, Contador and Quintana. This Tour field is weak and Porte barely gained time on Mollema if we ignore his flat tire. If you think that's impressive... I calculated it and he gained 40 seconds on Mollema after 18 stages. Yeah, not impressed at all.