• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Richie Porte Discussion Thread.

Page 147 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

In which year will Porte win the GT Treble?

  • He will only manage the double

    Votes: 9 100.0%

  • Total voters
    9
I disagree. For him -- absent crashes, illness etc -- it's a matter of priorities. If he said, I'm going to target top 10 in the TdF, that should be a piece of cake. All he has to do is TT decently and follow wheels without attacking. He may not be in the very top rung of GT riders right now -- but at least half of them are Sky or Jumbo domestiques this year who at some point will have to sacrifice themselves.

Somewhere there's a thread about highest placed GT riders who had the worst "best" stage finish, i.e., I think it's very possible to get a top 10 finish without ever finishing in the top 10 of a stage.

Your last paragraph is true - Ultimately it's up to the team to decide what is better value a possible stage win or a possible 6 to 10 position - Don't forget that Mollema is also riding the TDF.
 
Aug 15, 2020
4
5
25
Visit site
So Porte not too bad but lacking the 5% extra that those better than him have.
My question is...can he improve 5% over the next 3 weeks and if so, could he top 10 on the tour?? Or is mid 30’s yesterday’s news?
 
  • Like
Reactions: movingtarget
I think the rivalry between Jumbo and Ineos will be good for the weaker teams. It will certainly take the pressure off them and how much chasing they will have do re breakaways and losing team mates in the mountains won't matter so much with a strong presence from the top two teams. Be interesting to see how Porte finishes off the next two stages. He sounded pretty happy with where his form was at a few days ago re his Tour preparation..
 
I'd guess he's simply at his best and this level used to be enough to win races like Paris Nice, etc, but is now top 5-7 level at the Tour.

That kind of jibes with what he said in the interview on the CN home page...that bc of his age he can't follow accelerations any more when it gets super steep. But I'm really impressed that he's hanging in there. Bummer about the crosswinds, and again that's a mistake a veteran like Porte shouldn't have made. I think his best bet is to follow wheels, unfortunately, and we'll see him in ... 8th place?

I was watching some of the rebroadcast TdFs during quarantine and I can't help but think that he wasted a few good years at Sky. He had some bad luck post 2015 but he seemed to be at his friskiest in his 20s.

Outside of Roglic, Pogacar and Bernal, this has been a great tour for some riders who I thought would have zero chance of being within 5 minutes of those guys: Bardet, Landa, Porte, Uran, honestly even Mollema. Lopez is the biggest disappointment for me.
 
That kind of jibes with what he said in the interview on the CN home page...that bc of his age he can't follow accelerations any more when it gets super steep. But I'm really impressed that he's hanging in there. Bummer about the crosswinds, and again that's a mistake a veteran like Porte shouldn't have made. I think his best bet is to follow wheels, unfortunately, and we'll see him in ... 8th place?

I was watching some of the rebroadcast TdFs during quarantine and I can't help but think that he wasted a few good years at Sky. He had some bad luck post 2015 but he seemed to be at his friskiest in his 20s.

Outside of Roglic, Pogacar and Bernal, this has been a great tour for some riders who I thought would have zero chance of being within 5 minutes of those guys: Bardet, Landa, Porte, Uran, honestly even Mollema. Lopez is the biggest disappointment for me.
Porte always seemed pretty inconsistent and at his best was best suited to one climb stages and those sort of efforts, but he'd only drop everyone bar Froome in like one mountain stage in 2013, 2015.

He wasn't the sort of rider who could do the Tour as a dom then lead the Vuelta, cause in his prime he would've been quite suited to some Vueltas, but I'd also not say he'd pick one off cause his Tour results are just too dire for that. He actually had his shot at the Tour in 2014 and did nothing with it.
 
I'd guess he's simply at his best and this level used to be enough to win races like Paris Nice, etc, but is now top 5-7 level at the Tour.
He admitted a few days ago that the age factor has kicked in and he lacks the explosiveness he used to have when needing to react to attacks. Probably one of the reasons he got caught out in the crosswinds but he also said that two roundabouts and crash also didn't help but let's face it he has always struggled in crosswinds at least since he left Sky which was a much more seriously orgamized team than Porte's subsequent teams. He knows he is going back to domestique duties next year and doesn't seem to mind why would he ? He will be well paid well and the pressure will be off and he is still a seriously good mountain domestique.
 
That kind of jibes with what he said in the interview on the CN home page...that bc of his age he can't follow accelerations any more when it gets super steep. But I'm really impressed that he's hanging in there. Bummer about the crosswinds, and again that's a mistake a veteran like Porte shouldn't have made. I think his best bet is to follow wheels, unfortunately, and we'll see him in ... 8th place?

I was watching some of the rebroadcast TdFs during quarantine and I can't help but think that he wasted a few good years at Sky. He had some bad luck post 2015 but he seemed to be at his friskiest in his 20s.

Outside of Roglic, Pogacar and Bernal, this has been a great tour for some riders who I thought would have zero chance of being within 5 minutes of those guys: Bardet, Landa, Porte, Uran, honestly even Mollema. Lopez is the biggest disappointment for me.
No doubt Porte is not at the level he was in 2012--2018, it's not just that others have improved, he has deteriorated enough to struggle on some climbs now where before he often looked as as comfortable as Froome and was last man in line before Froome attacked. Often the damage was done by Porte before Froome was let off the leash.
 
Porte always seemed pretty inconsistent and at his best was best suited to one climb stages and those sort of efforts, but he'd only drop everyone bar Froome in like one mountain stage in 2013, 2015.

He wasn't the sort of rider who could do the Tour as a dom then lead the Vuelta, cause in his prime he would've been quite suited to some Vueltas, but I'd also not say he'd pick one off cause his Tour results are just too dire for that. He actually had his shot at the Tour in 2014 and did nothing with it.
I think he got sick in that race, chest infection or something but no one was beating Nibali that year anyway. 2016 he was unlucky not to podium, the usual inopportune punctures and the crash on Ventoux where it looked like Mollema, Froome and Porte would have made a decent time gap by the end of the stage.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cookster15
That kind of jibes with what he said in the interview on the CN home page...that bc of his age he can't follow accelerations any more when it gets super steep. But I'm really impressed that he's hanging in there. Bummer about the crosswinds, and again that's a mistake a veteran like Porte shouldn't have made. I think his best bet is to follow wheels, unfortunately, and we'll see him in ... 8th place?

I was watching some of the rebroadcast TdFs during quarantine and I can't help but think that he wasted a few good years at Sky. He had some bad luck post 2015 but he seemed to be at his friskiest in his 20s.

Outside of Roglic, Pogacar and Bernal, this has been a great tour for some riders who I thought would have zero chance of being within 5 minutes of those guys: Bardet, Landa, Porte, Uran, honestly even Mollema. Lopez is the biggest disappointment for me.
Be interesting to see if that group of riders stay close on GC. I get the feeling that the first three are going to open up the time gaps in the third week.
 
He is perhaps the biggest surprise for me. I would never have thought he would be the best of the rest in this Tour, in any Tour since 2018-ish. But chapeau, I like what I feel is a good story about a man haunted by bad luck or riding in service of others in his career, and finally takes his chance and shines in the autumn of his career. I can only wonder how well he would have done in 2017 or 2018 Tours if not crashing.
 
I think Porte historically does well on these shorter effort climbs - Willunga, Malhao, short side of Leysin, Mauselaine, murito in the 2018 TdS.

He has looked good on Peyresourde, but he was also given some space there because of the time loss before.

So I think Alps would be a more difficult test.
 
I think Porte historically does well on these shorter effort climbs - Willunga, Malhao, short side of Leysin, Mauselaine, murito in the 2018 TdS.

He has looked good on Peyresourde, but he was also given some space there because of the time loss before.

So I think Alps would be a more difficult test.
Ax 3 Domaines in 2013 was something, just glossed over a bit because of the flurry of knees and elbows ahead of him.
 

TRENDING THREADS