Happy for Porte and I honestly hope he can get the podium on the ITT, he deserves it as a career prize. Such an unlucky rider. There's nothing sadder as unfulfilled potential.
I honestly feel Porte has more than fulfilled his potential. He just kept banging his head against the GT wall and while he did get his fair share of bad luck, luck is an element in cycling. Some of the 'bad luck' was his own errors, like not knowing the rule on the wheel swap in the Giro or the Mont du Chat crash. But frequently Porte would completely capitulate when he had some bad fortune (I don't count the Mont du Chat crash in that, that was nasty and DNFing as a result was hardly surprising given the impact) but I think he felt pressured because of his record in one week races and because of being seen as a de facto successor to Evans to keep trying to be a GT rider, and it just wasn't working for him. He was talked up as a GC favourite and a major contender for half a decade despite a record of consistent disappointment, and dour defensive riding that suggested even he himself was just waiting for things to go wrong.
However, much like Cuddles, he has managed to get one last chance to make right on that potential; with the style of rider he is, the Tour is the GT that Richie is best suited to, and Porte probably more than anybody else has benefited from the Covid lockdown and cancellations because it's prevented him from overracing himself in the first half of the season, as he had a tendency to do, and that's enabled him, at age 35, to finally overcome that hurdle and achieve at a level commensurate with his perceived ability. So in some respects you could argue that's a huge slice of luck that Richie has had, ironically enough.