Richie Porte Discussion Thread.

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

Trek lacks quality in their squad so the signing of Porte is a no-brainer - Will win them races and could do well in GT's.

But somehow never did

I'd say he did. Would have been 2nd at the Tour without a badly timed flat and still was 5th.

Highly questionable, and the bottom line is that he was still 5th, and that's his highest placing in entire career! I'm still waiting for him to prove that he's genuine GT contender.

I see what you mean. LRP has a lens-like tendency for bad things to happen for him in GT's. It also happened in the Giro in 2015.

But I don't think it's questionable that he would have likely beat Bardet, Quintana and Yates in the podium battle back in 2016, had he not lost 1:45 on the stage to Cherbourg because of a puncture and a lack of team support.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

Trek lacks quality in their squad so the signing of Porte is a no-brainer - Will win them races and could do well in GT's.

But somehow never did

I'd say he did. Would have been 2nd at the Tour without a badly timed flat and still was 5th.

Highly questionable, and the bottom line is that he was still 5th, and that's his highest placing in entire career! I'm still waiting for him to prove that he's genuine GT contender.

I don't think it's questionable at all if you watched the entire race. He's already proved he's a GT contender.

 

[movingtarget]

The puncture just outside the 3 km zone where the peloton was flying along was the killer blow in 2016 no doubt. I think it cost him a podium but that's me. Apart from the two minor crashes he had a solid race and finally showed he could hold it together for three weeks. Hoping for the same this year.

 

[Cookster15]

Re: Re:

Trek lacks quality in their squad so the signing of Porte is a no-brainer - Will win them races and could do well in GT's.

But somehow never did

I'd say he did. Would have been 2nd at the Tour without a badly timed flat and still was 5th.

Highly questionable, and the bottom line is that he was still 5th, and that's his highest placing in entire career! I'm still waiting for him to prove that he's genuine GT contender.

I don't think it's questionable at all if you watched the entire race. He's already proved he's a GT contender.

Porte's GT record is in equal parts to him being a super domestique to Froome and Contador, his bad luck and his own failures (bad days or crash last year). But he has done more than enough since 2015 to prove he is a genuine contender over three weeks.

Bad luck also evens out over time so he is overdue some good luck. Thus his second favouritism in betting markets. If he gets through the cobbles and early windy exposed stages in a good position he will be in good shape to do some damage when it counts in the mountains. 2016 proved he can be strong in week 3. He looks to have a good team to protect him during those vulnerable stages. Certainly better than a team of skeletal climbers.

He also seems to have timed his preparation perfectly for example last season he was strong since January so many were worried his form would fade by the Tour. Not so this year. We will see.

 

[Escarabajo]

His high performance days working for Contador were non existant!
He changed his performance only when he went to Sky. So we can only consider this time realistically.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re: Re:

Bad luck also evens out over time so he is overdue some good luck.

No, it doesn't.
Luck isn't some deposit system that earns interest. Some people have all the good luck, others have all the bad luck and most are in between. Riders like Moreno Argentin or Alex Zulle had the absolute worst bad luck year upon year and it never got any better.

And some, like Porte, take risks they shouldn't to keep up with better descenders and crash. That's not bad luck, it's taking a risk repeatedly until one day it might pay off. But it doesn't have to.

 

[Cookster15]

Re: Re:

Bad luck also evens out over time so he is overdue some good luck.

No, it doesn't.
Luck isn't some deposit system that earns interest. Some people have all the good luck, others have all the bad luck and most are in between. Riders like Moreno Argentin or Alex Zulle had the absolute worst bad luck year upon year and it never got any better.

And some, like Porte, take risks they shouldn't to keep up with better descenders and crash. That's not bad luck, it's taking a risk repeatedly until one day it might pay off. But it doesn't have to.

Yes it can. You pick a bad example. I was not referring to his crash last year of course that had nothing to do with luck. Plenty of his others did though, including that in 2016 which clearly cost LRP a podium. Alberto Contador had his fair share of bad luck too.

 

[Cookster15]

Re:

The puncture just outside the 3 km zone where the peloton was flying along was the killer blow in 2016 no doubt. I think it cost him a podium but that's me. Apart from the two minor crashes he had a solid race and finally showed he could hold it together for three weeks. Hoping for the same this year.

Agreed. 2016 put most doubters to rest.

 

[movingtarget]

I think the lighter racing schedule before the Tour due to illness and injury could help not hinder Porte in the third week of the Tour. Often he is already flying before the Tour. The TDS win was good but he only put in one meaningful attack in the race and used the TT to hold his lead. Porte seems to think he has a lot of improvement in reserve.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

I think the lighter racing schedule before the Tour due to illness and injury could help not hinder Porte in the third week of the Tour. Often he is already flying before the Tour. The TDS win was good but he only put in one meaningful attack in the race and used the TT to hold his lead. Porte seems to think he has a lot of improvement in reserve.

I agree Richie will have a lot of reserve and it could benefit him in the final week...but so will Quintana & Nibali
Hope his team stand up for the that final week (and Porte could have jersey by first Tuesday)
But his greatest problem is his ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time

For me it would be best if no one saw or talked about Porte till the last week....if he just hid in the peloton and went round ...and sprung it in the final week

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

I think the lighter racing schedule before the Tour due to illness and injury could help not hinder Porte in the third week of the Tour. Often he is already flying before the Tour. The TDS win was good but he only put in one meaningful attack in the race and used the TT to hold his lead. Porte seems to think he has a lot of improvement in reserve.

I agree Richie will have a lot of reserve and it could benefit him in the final week...but so will Quintana & Nibali
Hope his team stand up for the that final week (and Porte could have jersey by first Tuesday)
But his greatest problem is his ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time

For me it would be best if no one saw or talked about Porte till the last week....if he just hid in the peloton and went round ...and sprung it in the final week

Problem is the TTT. Most people expect BMC to do well and not lose too much time to Sky so it's hard to see Richie hiding unfortunately. Hopefully a few breakaways succeed. Sky probably won't want the Yellow so early either but the trouble for them is the time gap after the TTT. Of course they could hand it off to someone not considered a threat, in a break which isn't always easy when sprinters teams want to win a stage.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

I think the lighter racing schedule before the Tour due to illness and injury could help not hinder Porte in the third week of the Tour. Often he is already flying before the Tour. The TDS win was good but he only put in one meaningful attack in the race and used the TT to hold his lead. Porte seems to think he has a lot of improvement in reserve.

I agree Richie will have a lot of reserve and it could benefit him in the final week...but so will Quintana & Nibali
Hope his team stand up for the that final week (and Porte could have jersey by first Tuesday)
But his greatest problem is his ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time

For me it would be best if no one saw or talked about Porte till the last week....if he just hid in the peloton and went round ...and sprung it in the final week

Problem is the TTT. Most people expect BMC to do well and not lose too much time to Sky so it's hard to see Richie hiding unfortunately. Hopefully a few breakaways succeed. Sky probably won't want the Yellow so early either but the trouble for them is the time gap after the TTT. Of course they could hand it off to someone not considered a threat, in a break which isn't always easy when sprinters teams want to win a stage.

A lot of people think BMC will win the TTT...

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re: Re:

I think the lighter racing schedule before the Tour due to illness and injury could help not hinder Porte in the third week of the Tour. Often he is already flying before the Tour. The TDS win was good but he only put in one meaningful attack in the race and used the TT to hold his lead. Porte seems to think he has a lot of improvement in reserve.

I agree Richie will have a lot of reserve and it could benefit him in the final week...but so will Quintana & Nibali
Hope his team stand up for the that final week (and Porte could have jersey by first Tuesday)
But his greatest problem is his ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time

For me it would be best if no one saw or talked about Porte till the last week....if he just hid in the peloton and went round ...and sprung it in the final week

Problem is the TTT. Most people expect BMC to do well and not lose too much time to Sky so it's hard to see Richie hiding unfortunately. Hopefully a few breakaways succeed. Sky probably won't want the Yellow so early either but the trouble for them is the time gap after the TTT. Of course they could hand it off to someone not considered a threat, in a break which isn't always easy when sprinters teams want to win a stage.

A lot of people think BMC will win the TTT...

Without Rohan, no chances (I hope).

 

[hazaran]

Re: Re:

Problem is the TTT. Most people expect BMC to do well and not lose too much time to Sky so it's hard to see Richie hiding unfortunately. Hopefully a few breakaways succeed. Sky probably won't want the Yellow so early either but the trouble for them is the time gap after the TTT. Of course they could hand it off to someone not considered a threat, in a break which isn't always easy when sprinters teams want to win a stage.

This is entirely an imaginary issue that exists purely so people and commentators can endlessly debate it every. single. day. But no team cares. You just do easy riding on the front and let the break get an ever increasing lead until someones nerves on a sprinter team break down and presto now they are riding.

 

[Robert5091]

With every sprinter of note at the TdF, there'll be no shortage of teams willing to chase breakaway. The biggest problem will be the lack of space in the last km.

 

[Jancouver]

I did not watch it but did I hear correctly that my favorite little man already lost some time today on stage one?

Damn, he is a gift that keeps on giving

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

I’m not even sure what happened to him??? That’s screwed my fantasy team up already.

 

[yaco]

Caught behind a crash like many others - The sobering thought is TVG and GVA finished in the front group - Where is the teamwork ?

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re:

Caught behind a crash like many others - The sobering thought is TVG and GVA finished in the front group - Where is the teamwork ?

Yeah I saw him pulling on the front and wondered where his team was.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Caught behind a crash like many others - The sobering thought is TVG and GVA finished in the front group - Where is the teamwork ?

He had team mates in the group but they did not seem to be on the front much. Still wondering how they lost so much time when only one or two teams were pushing it in the front group. He didn't seem to hit the ground thankfully. Not sure why he was so far back in the pack at that point of the race. There goes the TTT advantage.

 

[shallow]

Oh my gosh, it's so darn frustrating! Richie has already lost time to other GC hopefuls. The only consolation is that Froome, Quintana and Yates are all in the same boat. Hopefully the TTT will see Richie make up time but it would have been so much nicer if he'd been one of the ones who didn't get caught up. And yeah, where was his team? I only saw Gerrans with him. Why didn't they all drop back and bring him home? I guess we'll hear more of how things played out eventually.

 

[del1962]

Should GVA and TJ have dropped back?

 

[perico]

Re:

Should GVA and TJ have dropped back?

No. GT finished in the front group too and didn’t wait for Froome. Gotta have options for GC in case. GVA would make sense but not TeeJay.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Should GVA and TJ have dropped back?

No. GT finished in the front group too and didn’t wait for Froome. Gotta have options for GC in case. GVA would make sense but not TeeJay.

Tejay will lose a minute on the first mountain anyway. For a guy that is supposed to be only in the race for Porte, he should have waited. No one expects Tejay to do anything on GC. GVA might be thinking of yellow so a jersey and stage win is important for him in the first nine days. He could be close after the TTT.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Should GVA and TJ have dropped back?

No. GT finished in the front group too and didn’t wait for Froome. Gotta have options for GC in case. GVA would make sense but not TeeJay.

Tejay will lose a minute on the first mountain anyway. For a guy that is supposed to be only in the race for Porte, he should have waited. No one expects Tejay to do anything on GC. GVA might be thinking of yellow so a jersey and stage win is important for him in the first nine days. He could be close after the TTT.

This is the very essence of why BMC are a stuffed team ! Abandon your leader on the pretext of maybe getting yellow for a day or two and I doubt BMC will beat Sky in the TTT - Porte does little to help himself by selecting Gerrans when Roelandts or Tuens have better claims - A disaster of a team.