Richie Porte - what do we know about him?

[MarkvW]

Well . . . you know . . . Dr. Ferrari has to be working for somebody now, doesn't he?

Just who might he be working for?

 

[gooner]

highly subjective of course, but personally feel better about riders who are competitive relatively early and performs somewhat broadly in the season.

Lets see what Joshua can do here. It will be harder racing than Algarve no doubt.

On a serious note, agree with this point. Hard to predict of course how his career will pan out but you would hope he can develop along accordingly as time goes on so if he was to evolve into a rider at the top end of the big races you can at least point to his early career promise as a means to say he had great potential. As we see this can't be done with Froome or Wiggins for that matter and therefore brings in a lot suspicion to them as a result of the giant leap in their performance curve on a graph.

 

[The Hitch]

Is Henao really going to be working for Porte here? Last year Henao was the 3rd best rider here, and hills should suit him more than Porte (at least thats what i would have said before this year, and Porte is older so shouldnt be improving as much as Henao)

 

[Dazed and Confused]

On a serious note, agree with this point. Hard to predict of course how his career will pan out but you would hope he can develop along accordingly as time goes on so if he was to evolve into a rider at the top end of the big races you can at least point to his early career promise as a means to say he had great potential. As we see this can't be done with Froome or Wiggins for that matter and therefore brings in a lot suspicion to them as a result of the giant leap in their performance curve on a graph.

Are there another sport (endurance etc) where athletes jump from "zeroes" to heroes relatively late in age?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Is Henao really going to be working for Porte here? Last year Henao was the 3rd best rider here, and hills should suit him more than Porte (at least thats what i would have said before this year, and Porte is older so shouldnt be improving as much as Henao)

Can't see Porte giving up leadership at this point. Too ambitious.

 

[gooner]

Is Henao really going to be working for Porte here? Last year Henao was the 3rd best rider here, and hills should suit him more than Porte (at least thats what i would have said before this year, and Porte is older so shouldnt be improving as much as Henao)

It would seem that way. The final TT would be a big disadvantage for Henao and one where Porte could out do Contador so I think they will put their eggs in Porte for this one. Even though the climbs would seem to suit Henao, Contador could easily outperform and beat him on the stage into Arrate for instance. At least if this was to happens with Porte, the TT on the final day could be a saving grace for him if Contador was to be leading the overall going into it. If Henao was to be behind at that stage it would be game over for him. Plus this is one of the races which Sky haven't won so it could a big priority for them this year where they won't be messing about with the leadership issue.

 

[the sceptic]

You guys seem to be forgetting that Porte is the 2nd best climber in the world right now. Even though the hills might not suit him perfectly id be very surprised if he didnt win this race.

 

[del1962]

Are there another sport (endurance etc) where athletes jump from "zeroes" to heroes relatively late in age?

1984 Los Angeles, Mens Marathon winner springs to mind, I don't think there is anything suspicious about him but he didn't make a breakthrough until 29 and had his finest achievment at 37

 

[MarkvW]

1984 Los Angeles, Mens Marathon winner springs to mind, I don't think there is anything suspicious about him but he didn't make a breakthrough until 29 and had his finest achievment at 37

Yeah. Waldemar Cierpinski. Frank Shorter didn't think his performance was "normal."

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You guys seem to be forgetting that Porte is the 2nd best climber in the world right now. Even though the hills might not suit him perfectly id be very surprised if he didnt win this race.

Problem is, the type of climbs here are not the same as the types of climbs we've seen Porte on so far this year. It's still a bit up in the air as a result. With Sky you can never write it off, but the climbs of País Vasco are very different in characteristics to Lure, Èze and Ospedale.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

1984 Los Angeles, Mens Marathon winner springs to mind, I don't think there is anything suspicious about him but he didn't make a breakthrough until 29 and had his finest achievment at 37

Carlos Lopes.

Looks "peloton fodder" before the game. thanks.

 

[The Hitch]

Let's not exaggerate. Porte is not the favourite here. Even with his previous froome impersenations this year in mind, beating Contador at his favourite race would be something else entirely.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Problem is, the type of climbs here are not the same as the types of climbs we've seen Porte on so far this year. It's still a bit up in the air as a result. With Sky you can never write it off, but the climbs of País Vasco are very different in characteristics to Lure, Èze and Ospedale.

Would be surprised to see a functional Sky train in all key parts of the race, but I still think Porte will be right up there.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Let's not exaggerate. Porte is not the favourite here. Even with his previous froome impersenations this year in mind, beating Contador at his favourite race would be something else entirely.

dunno, Contador will get beaten if he comes in the same shape as in T-A imo.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Let's not exaggerate. Porte is not the favourite here. Even with his previous froome impersenations this year in mind, beating Contador at his favourite race would be something else entirely.

Hitchy Porte is the favorite. I cannot see someone else winning. It is funny that Berto will get beaten by someone who could not even be a domestique for him in the mountains because said rider was riding in the gruppetto. I was thinking a few days ago, wasn't there talk of Alberto joining sky a few yrs ago? Can you imagine how scary that would've been

 

[Parrulo]

1984 Los Angeles, Mens Marathon winner springs to mind, I don't think there is anything suspicious about him but he didn't make a breakthrough until 29 and had his finest achievment at 37

i did some digging on this comparing his english wikipedia page with his portuguese one and with some portuguese news stories on him and the english wiki has very little info about the pre-75.

he came from a very poor family (shocking on portugal at the time i know ) so he started working in a quarry at 10. he only started running at 16 by chance and after a few nice early results at that age he had to focus on working to provide for the family.

he only became a semi- professional in 75 at 27, having the chance to train 2 times per day by training before work in the morning and leaving earlier in the afternoon and the following year at 28 won silver in 76 olympics (10 000 m)

after that the rest is history really but getting a record that stood until 2008 at 37 is indeed very fishy and to be honest i had never really put much thought to it before, but now that i did. . . . nice finding really

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

It's always up to theHog to separate the truth from the BS.

All those quotes do is confirm that he was hired on an 80 day contract a year (Something no one has argued about). Where does it say he worked 80 days in 2012 which is the only fact in dispute?

 

[Franklin]

From David Walsh's latest article in the ST, Leinders contract was for up to 80 days a year on call. He worked for 67 days in 2011. He worked at 8 races, short stage and one day, until June 2012 after which his contract was paid up and he was told the team would not be using him again, while the team carried out an internal investigation. His 8 race program prior to that accounted for about 40-42 days by my estimate. David Walsh also reported in his latest article that Leinders worked 44 days in 2012 before his pay off and the investigation, which means my estimate was quite close

What proof/indication/evidence/reason for concern/suspicion do you have that a) Brailsford lied about any of this to Walsh and b) Leinders actually worked for 80 days in half a year, despite the fact that his contract was only for up to 80 days in a whole year?

I am not just addressing this question to you thehog, particularly part a) as other people seem to be sharing this belief of yours that this constitutes a lie and there must be a reason why you believe what you stated above and can account for what Libertine Seguros posted earlier other than just a general dislike of the team and their PR.

Ridiculous. Your numbers drive home that Dave is indeed a liar. Or do you really think it's okay just to count Leinders 2012 employment?

I work for ten years at my current comapny. with this logic I now have been employed for 90-ish days

Of course, if it is just a general suspicion based on the fact that he was involved in doping at Rabobank and is therefore a Bad Person, and anyone who employed him/met him is therefore a Bad Person too so must be lying whatever they say, then that is okay, even if it doesn't fit with my personal ethics and beliefs.

You forget that Leinders left Rabo due to more strict internal rules. Aso, historical data really indicates that these doctors are a very good indication of problems. You don't hire a doping doctor to treat saddle sores...

We could add that this is also another case of Dave Brailsford just spinning for the media. His dramatic "dopers will always dope" is ridiculous, not only because of Leinders, but also because of all those people he fired.

We have enough BS artists in this sport. Dave is symptomatic of the rot and needs to go.

Richie Porte related content;

From the same article I can understand Porte not being happy at being asked questions about the state of Dutch cycling in the Paris-Nice winners press conference. He's never ridden in a Dutch team and his only links to the Dutch cycling scene as far as I know were a team doctor who worked for 44 days last year, quite a few of them on races where Porte wasn't there and an ex-DS who admitted to past doping and left the team.

What were the journalists expecting him to say?

Let me think.... perhaps he could understand that cycling has a huge issue with doping and that answering these questions is part of his (very well paid)job?

I know, they are victims, all of them..

 

[Franklin]

Yeah. Waldemar Cierpinski. Frank Shorter didn't think his performance was "normal."

Waldemar was the champion of 1980. I doubt anyone would think this DDR star was clean

The winner of 1984 is Carlos Lopez who was rather inconsistent in his wins. His best years were 76-77 (at 29) and 84-86 at 34-36 years of age.

Lopes OS marathon record survived the better part of the Epo era

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

I work for ten years at my current comapny. with this logic I now have been employed for 90-ish days

You only work 90-ish days a year?

 

[Franklin]

You only work 90-ish days a year?

Nope, I just started counting 2013

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

Nope, I just started counting 2013

Actually your comment does not make sense since I specifically asked per year

 

[peterst6906]

Actually your comment does not make sense since I specifically asked per year

What part of 'nope' doesn't make sense?

His original post was clear enough, so it would be much better to just admit you missed it rather than dig the whole deeper.

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

What part of 'nope' doesn't make sense?

His original post was clear enough, so it would be much better to just admit you missed it rather than dig the whole deeper.

I am tempted to try digging but in this case I put my hands up.

 

[Cycle Chic]

Namesake

RichiE POrte - he's got a good name anyway -

sorry just had to get that one in