Richie Porte - what do we know about him?

[darwin553]

Nah hog, I think Richie won yesterday. They sat him down, promised him next years Giro and said lose time. Richie said 'cool, I am down with that.'

Look at him, he wasn't even trying. We've seen Porte tank before when he was supposed to be helping Contador. Richie ain't bright, but he most definitely is on the same treatment as Froome. Kerrison wasn't wrong about that.

So why lose so much time? Well look at the gaps! Look at how they went. One minute. Then two. Then slowly crept up. Once they knew Froome was safe in the front group and wouldn't fall, they told Richie to back off even more. Why lose 18 minutes? ASO. Prudhomme. They would have been told to really back down or they will take yellow away. Is it a risk? Is Froome gonna fall? Who knows. Is he gonna crack? Hell no. They know he has enough juice left to win it no sweat. All the other riders yesterday except Quintana had nothing to attack Froome with. They were just thankful to be in the front group.

Ok so if Porte wins the giro next year it will be all sweet? No doping suspicions as it went all to Sky's grand plan...

 

[Galic Ho]

Contador was like in the Vuelta last year. So, did he really have a bad day or is this somehow his base level? Froome/Porte did a Verbier on saturday, just like Belle Filles last year, Conti without a BB cant do that any more.

Regarding not bridging where others could. Choice. Explained by this:

Brailsford got a knock on the door after yesterday's stage. ASO reps telling them they can win with Froome but a 1-2 sky podium won't be tolerated.

ASO can make them go bye bye. I have no doubt about that. Even they have their limits.

With AC we will find out. If he is at the same level as the Vuelta, note Valverde and Rodriquez also are at about the same level. But Froome isn't. He is way above them all. That didn't happen in the Vuelta.

The rest days...what happens after them will be the tell. Does AC improve relative to the rest? We'll find out. I don't think any of them will improve above Froome though. I'd sure like them to, but I don't think they will.

 

[martinvickers]

I have now, but early morning posting probably isn't the best idea on my part.

Although I don't get why the UCI didn't appeal against the Frank Schleck outcome. Seems a little strange that they throw one under the bus and not another.

1) Frank was caught in-race...harder to hush up
2) The Schleck brother dynamic is awkward - you've just handed the other brother a Tour because of dope, remember?
3) Most important - Timing - remember where UCI and USADA were at the time. And think on this. When they stripped LA they pretty immediately refused to reapply them. quite rightly. But the contador/Schleck and Landis/Perreiro issues would have been in their heads too

We all like to think things improve in the sport because of decent people being decent. I'd love to think, for example, that Berti (who has clearly dialled it down) and valverde have thought on their sins and decided to go clean.

But actually, the sport tends to move when and if it's poked with a sharp stick. Yes, one or two moral people can make a huge difference. Tagart. Kimmage and Walsh. Bassons. Emma O'Reilly and Betsy. Arguably JV. (Very) Arguably even Millar and Hamilton.

But more often, it's movement through fear, or anger, or scandal, or suffering. Landis. Festina's partial effect on French cycling. And in Berti's case and possibly Valverde's case - fear of a second positive = bye bye for good...

And some people are pretty much beyond even that, true hardcore don't give a sh!t. Ricco. armstrong. Fuentes. Ferrari. Bruyneels. Possibly Riis - I'm not absolutely certain he's as bad as johan - but he could well be.

UCI and ASO currently move when they have to, not because they want to. But that's not to say they don't occasionally move either. the truth is messy, and somewhere in the middle. Good people do bad things. Bad people are frightened out of doing bad things. And a sport tries to recover from the mess of the last few decades, and indeed, its whole history.

I could wax lyrical about the Dreyfuss case now, but I'll leave it for another time.

 

[Galic Ho]

Ok so if Porte wins the giro next year it will be all sweet? No doping suspicions as it went all to Sky's grand plan...

Figured out who Lucho Herrera is yet?

Do you even pay attention to how people look and perform or do you just listen with a loving stare at the scenery and delight yourself in the sound of Paul and Phil?

At what stage last night/yesterday was Richie Porte in physical trouble? Go on, tell me. On SBS, which you'd undoubtedly have watched the race, he was under no pressure at all. It was a walk in the park for him. Name one physical sign he was having a bad day because he choked! Go on, I dare you, plus back it up?

 

[The Chicken]

The tell is in the riders form on the bike compared to when they were gunning it and flogging everyone.

Take Evans on Saturday. Was getting passed left right and centre. He blew up. Bad day. Contador's number one domestique, Kreuziger pulled him up most of the hill. Contador was having a bad day. Why? Contrast with their good days when they flog everyone or are the ones doing the pulling. You can see it in their eyes, how they are slouched over their bike, their cadence and rhythm is affected negatively.

Best example? Stage 16 2006 Tour de France. Floyd Landis blowing up. That was bad. Really bad. The sweat and perspiration were the tell. Having a team mate pull for him was also the tell. His best was ironically the next day. Contrast between both and Floyd did sweat a lot both days, but his cadence, form and stamina were worlds apart.

Contrast with Porte. Was he sweating like a pig? Nope. Was his cadence and rhythm affected? Nope. Did he look like his breathing was laboured, did he in any way, shape or form look like he was doing poorly physically and mentally other than on the stopwatch? Nope.

Porte was taking it easy. Intentionally going slow. It was an act. Worse, his physical state was the tell. He backed off something fierce under ORDERS. Gotta make it look real. Gotta sell it to the public and not embarrass the ASO and Tour again. Problem is when he wasn't even sweating and breathing heavily, well it was obvious his form wasn't the reason. It was deliberately going slow for a purpose. That purpose is to make Sky look legit. Well actually less questionable. Legit is a poor choice. They ain't legit.

After all, when you go full *** like they did, almost everyone bats an eye and takes notice. Time suggests he had a bad day, his riding form says the opposite. Hesjedal who finished with Porte...now he had a bad day.

Correct.

..........

 

[darwin553]

Figured out who Lucho Herrera is yet?

Do you even pay attention to how people look and perform or do you just listen with a loving stare at the scenery and delight yourself in the sound of Paul and Phil?

At what stage last night/yesterday was Richie Porte in physical trouble? Go on, tell me. On SBS, which you'd undoubtedly have watched the race, he was under no pressure at all. It was a walk in the park for him. Name one physical sign he was having a bad day because he choked! Go on, I dare you, plus back it up?

Wait I get it now you're a trained doctor and can tell the state of a rider's health based on images on a tv!

 

[SaxonUK]

He didn't look like he was in particular trouble all day. Ryder was having a bad time and you could see in his cadence and form that that was the case. Porte was just powering his way through the climbs, passed a group of 3 riders who were struggling at one point and carried on, even Phil and Paul mentioned how well he was doing moving up the mountain.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Nah hog, I think Richie won yesterday. They sat him down, promised him next years Giro and said lose time. Richie said 'cool, I am down with that.'

Last year Froome was royally P'ed off that he had to settle for 2nd

Porte in the same situation happily gives up top 10 ?

 

[Cycle Chic]

The tell is in the riders form on the bike compared to when they were gunning it and flogging everyone.

Take Evans on Saturday. Was getting passed left right and centre. He blew up. Bad day. Contador's number one domestique, Kreuziger pulled him up most of the hill. Contador was having a bad day. Why? Contrast with their good days when they flog everyone or are the ones doing the pulling. You can see it in their eyes, how they are slouched over their bike, their cadence and rhythm is affected negatively.

Best example? Stage 16 2006 Tour de France. Floyd Landis blowing up. That was bad. Really bad. The sweat and perspiration were the tell. Having a team mate pull for him was also the tell. His best was ironically the next day. Contrast between both and Floyd did sweat a lot both days, but his cadence, form and stamina were worlds apart.

Contrast with Porte. Was he sweating like a pig? Nope. Was his cadence and rhythm affected? Nope. Did he look like his breathing was laboured, did he in any way, shape or form look like he was doing poorly physically and mentally other than on the stopwatch? Nope.

Porte was taking it easy. Intentionally going slow. It was an act. Worse, his physical state was the tell. He backed off something fierce under ORDERS. Gotta make it look real. Gotta sell it to the public and not embarrass the ASO and Tour again. Problem is when he wasn't even sweating and breathing heavily, well it was obvious his form wasn't the reason. It was deliberately going slow for a purpose. That purpose is to make Sky look legit. Well actually less questionable. Legit is a poor choice. They ain't legit.

After all, when you go full *** like they did, almost everyone bats an eye and takes notice. Time suggests he had a bad day, his riding form says the opposite. Hesjedal who finished with Porte...now he had a bad day.

Thank goodness we have Galic Ho here.

Wiggins must be laughing all the way to his next Fred Perry meeting...joined by Sean Yates.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

What Sky did yesterday was so utterly and blatantly a farce, it almost rivaled what they did the previous day.

Their fans bought everything with the same fervor that USPS fans Lance's BS. At least we know gullibility isn't a unique trait among American sports fans.

 

[Galic Ho]

Last year Froome was royally P'ed off that he had to settle for 2nd

Porte in the same situation happily gives up top 10 ?

Come on wake up.

Did you ever see Pellizotti's ABP violation numbers? Did you hear about Bottle's shockingly high off score? The limit is 115, should be 95. Anyone over 100 IMO is doping. Tons of riders GO OVER THAT. They are protected. Lance went over FFS and nothing happened! So did Wiggins in 2009!

Do you remember what Ashenden said about Contador's 2010 Clenbuterol positive? They had him on BLOOD DOPING and his own scientific expert agreed that was the only explanation for his blood values. But the rules limited them to ONLY charging him with Clenbuterol use. Google Ashenden and nyvelocitynation and read FFS.

Plenty of riders have dodgy values. They're protected. This has been touched on again and again. Why the hell do you think before last years Tour ONLY Team Sky presented their whole rosters blood values to the ASO? At the sign of being morons and embarrassing the Tour and the ASO, they can eject them on the spot. It wouldn't be hard to based on Sky dodgyness. If they had Contador from 2010 and got Pellizotti from 2009, along with Valjavec, no doubt they have the ridiculous Froome and Porte by the balls too.

So if your DS gets a visit from Prudhomme and you are told to lose 10 minutes and drop way back on GC, do you think you'd do it? I mean how long does and ABP ban last? How good are you when you come back? Look at Pellizotti. He rides for Vini Fantini now. Want to explain to everyone how their Giro went?

So yeah, I do think Porte took one for the team. Drop back, have your best mate still kicking the nine shades of $h1t out of everyone on GC and you get promised something down the road. Why not the Worlds? Or the Giro? Or whatever you want. You still win and you don't face a ban.

Oh and in case you forgot, the scientists on the ABP tongues are tied. They won't spill anything. Heck Ashenden in that article suggests most don't even see the results of a rider across a full spectrum. It's all controlled champ. They can stop this anytime they want. UCI don't want to. Nor do the ASO. It's always been about the $$$.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Come on wake up.

Did you ever see Pellizotti's ABP violation numbers? Did you hear about Bottle's shockingly high off score? The limit is 115, should be 95. Anyone over 100 IMO is doping. Tons of riders GO OVER THAT. They are protected. Lance went over FFS and nothing happened! So did Wiggins in 2009!

Do you remember what Ashenden said about Contador's 2010 Clenbuterol positive? They had him on BLOOD DOPING and his own scientific expert agreed that was the only explanation for his blood values. But the rules limited them to ONLY charging him with Clenbuterol use. Google Ashenden and nyvelocitynation and read FFS.

Plenty of riders have dodgy values. They're protected. This has been touched on again and again. Why the hell do you think before last years Tour ONLY Team Sky presented their whole rosters blood values to the ASO? At the sign of being morons and embarrassing the Tour and the ASO, they can eject them on the spot. It wouldn't be hard to based on Sky dodgyness. If they had Contador from 2010 and got Pellizotti from 2009, along with Valjavec, no doubt they have the ridiculous Froome and Porte by the balls too.

So if your DS gets a visit from Prudhomme and you are told to lose 10 minutes and drop way back on GC, do you think you'd do it? I mean how long does and ABP ban last? How good are you when you come back? Look at Pellizotti. He rides for Vini Fantini now. Want to explain to everyone how their Giro went?

So yeah, I do think Porte took one for the team. Drop back, have your best mate still kicking the nine shades of $h1t out of everyone on GC and you get promised something down the road. Why not the Worlds? Or the Giro? Or whatever you want. You still win and you don't face a ban.

Oh and in case you forgot, the scientists on the ABP tongues are tied. They won't spill anything. Heck Ashenden in that article suggests most don't even see the results of a rider across a full spectrum. It's all controlled champ. They can stop this anytime they want. UCI don't want to. Nor do the ASO. It's always been about the $$$.

I don't disagree with much of your post

However I don't see that it comes close to fully explaining what went on yesterday and why it didn't happen before. Why Porte ? Why total collapse as opposed to dialling it down a bit ? Why not Froome or both ? Why not before ? Why is Porte not seething ?

 

[Galic Ho]

Wiggins must be laughing all the way to his next Fred Perry meeting...joined by Sean Yates.

I bet Wiggins in laughing his rear end off with Kath and the kids. I'd be. He's set for life and his antics have been well and truly surpassed by Froome and Porte in the space of 2 days.

Ax3 Domaines alone trumps Wiggins whole ridiculous 2012 swan song.

I've always maintained they did it for the $. Wiggins knew money was to be made, so he pushed a line he hadn't. Then he had to stop. I've been maintaining since the Giro del Trentino, Wiggins knew the gig was up, made up some BS excuses and went on his merry way. He knows that his numbers climbing, chrono and blood are not safe. That if someone really wants to, with the right authority they can unmask him. So he did the wise thing. He backed off. Didn't like it at all, but he backed off. That way you're safe.

Just like Carlos Sastre. Did what he had to for the time he needed to. Then left. Some people know when to leave well enough alone. Others want EVERYTHING and lack the restraint to hold back. That's when Prudhomme and the ASO have to knock on your door late at night. Unless of course if you're riding for Saunier Duval. Or if you ride in the Giro and are Italian. Then they do bust you out of the race.

That is an interesting point. Does anyone here think if Porte and Froome had of been in the Giro, they'd have had the nads to do an Ax3 style show of power? Are the RCS and CONI that stricter? Or do they just turn a blind eye to Italians?

 

[kingjr]

@Eyeballs Out, Porte didn't collapse totally, seriously who comes up with this bull****. He had to try close the gap on his very own after Thomas, EBH and Kennaugh dropped out of his group, and when he wasn't getting any closer, in fact slowly losing more and more ground he just resigned. Would be a massive waste of energy to keep going full gas to lose only 10 min instead of 17.

 

[Alphabet]

The tell is in the riders form on the bike compared to when they were gunning it and flogging everyone.

Take Evans on Saturday. Was getting passed left right and centre. He blew up. Bad day. Contador's number one domestique, Kreuziger pulled him up most of the hill. Contador was having a bad day. Why? Contrast with their good days when they flog everyone or are the ones doing the pulling. You can see it in their eyes, how they are slouched over their bike, their cadence and rhythm is affected negatively.

Best example? Stage 16 2006 Tour de France. Floyd Landis blowing up. That was bad. Really bad. The sweat and perspiration were the tell. Having a team mate pull for him was also the tell. His best was ironically the next day. Contrast between both and Floyd did sweat a lot both days, but his cadence, form and stamina were worlds apart.

Contrast with Porte. Was he sweating like a pig? Nope. Was his cadence and rhythm affected? Nope. Did he look like his breathing was laboured, did he in any way, shape or form look like he was doing poorly physically and mentally other than on the stopwatch? Nope.

Porte was taking it easy. Intentionally going slow. It was an act. Worse, his physical state was the tell. He backed off something fierce under ORDERS. Gotta make it look real. Gotta sell it to the public and not embarrass the ASO and Tour again. Problem is when he wasn't even sweating and breathing heavily, well it was obvious his form wasn't the reason. It was deliberately going slow for a purpose. That purpose is to make Sky look legit. Well actually less questionable. Legit is a poor choice. They ain't legit.

After all, when you go full *** like they did, almost everyone bats an eye and takes notice. Time suggests he had a bad day, his riding form says the opposite. Hesjedal who finished with Porte...now he had a bad day.

Agreed entirely. I wonder if the 'Porte cracked!! Sky are clean!!' crew watched the final bit of the stage? Porte was in a group with Hesjedal, and another rider who's name escapes me. Both were suffering like hell, looking worse than Voeckler does, all over the bike, shoulders rolling, heads bobbing, sweating, looking stressed. Porte looked cool as you like, sitting down, head and shoulders perfectly still. I can't believe that he was in any real physical trouble at all. Why he would want to lose all that time is a mystery, but I feel certain that he wasn't in pain whatsoever.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

@Eyeballs Out, Porte didn't collapse totally, seriously who comes up with this bull****. He had to try close the gap on his very own after Thomas, EBH and Kennaugh dropped out of his group, and when he wasn't getting any closer, in fact slowly losing more and more ground he just resigned. Would be a massive waste of energy to keep going full gas to lose only 10 min instead of 17.

It was total collapse. He went from dropping all the opposition one day to getting dropped by Le Mevel, Lutsenko and many others who all made it across from the group he was climbing in (with Tosatto).

 

[Ruudz0r]

Your blind if you could not see that Porte was suffering at the time he rode with Kennaugh and later solo.
At one point he gave up and then indeed sat down and took it easy and then he started to lose big time (it was from the moment he was about 3-4 min down). He knew it was useless then and he was going to lose his GC anyway so then it was better to just save himself.

A lot of people just think he dopes and everything he does proves their point that they dope, doesnt matter if they win by 15 minutes or lose by 15 minutes, everything they do proves their point, thats really ridicolous. They see what they want to see. And a lot of people here are like that.

Im not saying he is clean (not saying that of any rider), but to say SKY did this on purprose and risk their Tour. Or that Richie wasnt suffering is really stupid.

 

[Bakhjulet]

He didn't look like he was in particular trouble all day. Ryder was having a bad time and you could see in his cadence and form that that was the case. Porte was just powering his way through the climbs, passed a group of 3 riders who were struggling at one point and carried on, even Phil and Paul mentioned how well he was doing moving up the mountain.

We hardly saw any pictures of Porte when he was dropped on Mente, how bad he really looked (Jesus, are we really going on facial expressions now?). It was on Mente Porte bridged back to Froome to help him out and set the pace. And imo it was here Porte made his mistake and digged too deep, went into red and had to slow down to not crack completely. Maybe he was caught up in the self-image of being a super-domestique and overestimated his strenght. He was already on the limited when he tried to help Froome out, he should have kept his cool and instead try to reach Froome later on when the pace is front eventually was going to go down. After the effort on Mente he never really recovered. In the valley and on Peyresourde the sky guys tried to bring Porte back to peloton. After good help by Kennaugh Porte made a final effort to connect but when Moviestar uped the tempo Porte realized he wasn't closing the gap and decided it was no point in trying anymore.

No mystery as I see it. Garmin took Porte and the other sky guys out of their comfort zone (riding a steady pace, controling the race), by setting a brutal pace from the beginning of the stage. A hard pace and climbing early on caused problems for several good climbers, Porte on of them (Legs can be stiff early on and a hard pace can then have a devestating effect.) Realizing Froome was isolated Porte tried to help out but went into red instead.

 

[kingjr]

We hardly saw any pictures of Porte when he was dropped on Mente, how bad he really looked (Jesus, are we really going on facial expressions now?). It was on Mente Porte bridged back to Froome to help him out and set the pace. And imo it was here Porte made his mistake and digged too deep, went into red and had to slow down to not crack completely. Maybe he was caught up in the self-image of being a super-domestique and overestimated his strenght. He was already on the limited when he tried to help Froome out, he should have kept his cool and instead try to reach Froome later on when the pace is front eventually was going to go down. After the effort on Mente he never really recovered. In the valley and on Peyresourde the sky guys tried to bring Porte back to peloton. After good help by Kennaugh Porte made a final effort to connect but when Moviestar uped the tempo Porte realized he wasn't closing the gap and decided it was no point in trying anymore.

No mystery as I see it. Garmin took Porte and the other sky guys out of their comfort zone (riding a steady pace, controling the race), by setting a brutal pace from the beginning of the stage. A hard pace and climbing early on caused problems for several good climbers, Porte on of them (Legs can be stiff early on and a hard pace can then have a devestating effect.) Realizing Froome was isolated Porte tried to help out but went into red instead.

This pretty much.

 

[BYOP88]

There was a moment yesterday where Porte passed a Katusha rider #106(too lazy to check up who it is) Porte was fresh and looked in no trouble, the Katusha boy was rocking and rolling all over his bike.

 

[GreasyMonkey]

Last year Froome was royally P'ed off that he had to settle for 2nd

Porte in the same situation happily gives up top 10 ?

ASO have a BRAND to protect - the BRAND "Tour de France" is their license to print money.
You ask any successful businessman what is the most important asset they have, and without a doubt it is "the brand" - Froome, Brailsford and most of all Porte were threatening to damage the brand and make it a laughing-stock by their full-*** show.

A penny for a pound that Brailsford was "on the carpet" before ASO on Saturday night being told that his guys had to dial it down, Porte in particular (he looks far more ridiculous than Froome). I have no idea what Porte was offered/guaranteed, but he was told to go back a long way, save it up and probably that the team will work to get you a No.3 podium step in the Alpes.

Porte will end up on the third step of the podium, barring some misfortune or disaster (bad BB, anyone...?).
He will take it easy until the ITT, smash it (with a top-up BB the day or two before), then follow it all up with some startling moves in the alpes - perhaps he will even open his mouth to breathe - unlike Saturday, and not be smiling and laughing as he cruises away from all and sundry, with Dawg sitting pretty in yellow.....

 

[Galic Ho]

I don't disagree with much of your post

However I don't see that it comes close to fully explaining what went on yesterday and why it didn't happen before. Why Porte ? Why total collapse as opposed to dialling it down a bit ? Why not Froome or both ? Why not before ? Why is Porte not seething ?

Look at team Sky. Do you honestly think we will see Bradley Wiggins riding a GT for team Sky every again as leader? I don't. I don't even think he'll be riding for Sky next season. He might even retire. He can afford to.

What does this present? An opening. Talk is that Uran is leaving. So that means he won't need the Giro will he? Thus you have something to sweeten the deal. Porte gets protection at the Giro next year or whatever he picks. They bribe him in other words. He drops off and lives to fight another day. People see his drop and go...well doesn't that make sense! Sure they don't understand that what he did on Ax3 was beyond believable, they don't get the science, but their brains piece together that he buried himself one day and lost big time the next! Simpleton logic. But it holds up IF one doesn't examine the particulars that have been brought up in discussions in the Clinic.

As for Froome. That is easy. Was done and dusted months ago. The UCI and ASO knew the plan was Froome as he himself announced it last October. They don't object to him winning, they only object to him making it look ridiculous. Having another 1-2 finish in Paris after Ax3 and their crushing form over their opposition doesn't look right to anyone. Even the ones who think Wiggins is clean (martinvickers anyone?).

Why not before? That is ego. That is the result of two men so driven by their own desire to showcase their power they couldn't restrain themselves. Froome had been holding back for a whole year to do that. Why wait again? Those two knuckleheads have probably been egging one another on all year with Tim Kerrison slapping them on the back. Short story, idiocy. They did not think. As thehog has said before, dope does silly things to some people's heads. Ask Vini Fantini about that. Ask Cadel Evans about Santa.

Why total team collapse? Extra rest day. Froome literally did not need help. Maybe if Nibali had been there and had of attacked on the last climb and nailed the descent. Maybe, just maybe it would have been dumb what Sky did. Nibali ain't here. Yes I know Valverde and Evans can descend very well. IMO Valverde should have had a dig and Evans was not in any shape to do so. Most of the guys were simply holding on in that front group.

IMO only the Spaniards and Quintana can do anything. The Dutch will protect what they have...which is actually darn impressive. They may send Gesink up ahead to wait for either Mollema or Bak (it is Lars Bak isn't it? or is it Boom? I dunno...it's one of the Belkin boys).

As for Kirienka. I have no clue on that one. I don't think it matters. Froome isn't under any threat at all. Not unless he has a Floyd style meltdown. Then it's game on!

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

@Eyeballs Out, Porte didn't collapse totally, seriously who comes up with this bull****. He had to try close the gap on his very own after Thomas, EBH and Kennaugh dropped out of his group, and when he wasn't getting any closer, in fact slowly losing more and more ground he just resigned. Would be a massive waste of energy to keep going full gas to lose only 10 min instead of 17.

Please feel free to answer htf Poels/Moreno/Voigt and others were able to bridge on Peyresourde and tha Portie not. From the pain on Mente? I agree it is possible he imploded a bit on Mente, first real serious col of the day, but so did a lot of guys who returned ON Peyresourde. On the bottom of Val Louron he was at two minutes and in a flash he was on 1 minute 15/16/17 with 5K to go on that climb.

Too bad he couldnt come back, would have been good TV.

 

[Galic Ho]

Agreed entirely. I wonder if the 'Porte cracked!! Sky are clean!!' crew watched the final bit of the stage? Porte was in a group with Hesjedal, and another rider who's name escapes me. Both were suffering like hell, looking worse than Voeckler does, all over the bike, shoulders rolling, heads bobbing, sweating, looking stressed. Porte looked cool as you like, sitting down, head and shoulders perfectly still. I can't believe that he was in any real physical trouble at all. Why he would want to lose all that time is a mystery, but I feel certain that he wasn't in pain whatsoever.

Agreed. I don't think he was under any stress at all. SBS broadcast showed Porte quite a bit. When he was losing time to the tune of a minute every now and then from when he was 2 mins down the camera would pan back to him.

We've all seen guys lose that kind of time and they've always been in pain. Porte wasn't even sweating. No grimace. No pain. He really needs to learn how to sell the act. He should borrow Durianriders advice. Scrunch up his face, bob his head up and down, weave across the road, throw his bike around. Basically just imitate Hesjedal. Maybe we should all ask JV what Ryder thought of Porte's outing yesterday? Feigning or legit? There is a thread for it after all.

 

[Bakhjulet]

ASO have a BRAND to protect - the BRAND "Tour de France" is their license to print money.
You ask any successful businessman what is the most important asset they have, and without a doubt it is "the brand" - Froome, Brailsford and most of all Porte were threatening to damage the brand and make it a laughing-stock by their full-*** show.

A penny for a pound that Brailsford was "on the carpet" before ASO on Saturday night being told that his guys had to dial it down, Porte in particular (he looks far more ridiculous than Froome). I have no idea what Porte was offered/guaranteed, but he was told to go back a long way, save it up and probably that the team will work to get you a No.3 podium step in the Alpes.

Porte will end up on the third step of the podium, barring some misfortune or disaster (bad BB, anyone...?).
He will take it easy until the ITT, smash it (with a top-up BB the day or two before), then follow it all up with some startling moves in the alpes - perhaps he will even open his mouth to breathe - unlike Saturday, and not be smiling and laughing as he cruises away from all and sundry, with Dawg sitting pretty in yellow.....

So the best explanation for Porte's performance is that ASO put pressure on Brailsford, who then told Porte to take it down a notch. Yeah right. Thing is, if Porte would have just stayed with Froome without any brutal pacesetting on the last climgb, the performance of Porte wouldn't have been anything like saturdays, and no cause for "oh that was an otherworldy performance" and ASO to **** their pants.

Btw, you do realize that Porte is 17 minutes from a 3rd spot on the podium. Porte has no GC ambitions anymore, and he shouldn't given how vunerable Sky is in the high mountains. Next time Moviestar, Saxo or another team tries to isolate Froome early on Sky wants Porte to be able to stay with Froome. So don't waste energy on trying improve on GC. Porte will be a pure domestique from now on.