Richie Porte - what do we know about him?

[Retro Trev]

Ritchie Porte lost 9 minutes on the climb yesterday.

This Tour is becoming an aggregation of substantial losses for Sky.

Perhaps part of the problem was caused by the Stages power meter.

Sir Dave forgot to take into account the fact that only left leg power is measured, and chose riders who's power output is inflated by their left leg dominance.

Poor little Ritchie Porte rode the climb at the power output he was told to by Tim Kerrison but clearly his Stages inflated power was insufficient to enable him to keep up with riders who train far less scientifically.

He was even passed by several riders wearing heart rate straps.

I look forward to Sky making available Ritchie's left leg power data for the stage.

A marginal gain Sir Dave might consider is employing a bike handling coach. No point having the best power to weight ratio in Le Tour if some little Italian goes so fast on the flat and down hill you fall off trying to keep up.

 

[JimmyFingers]

Had Hein still been in charge, the performance this year would have been down to a group letter.

Even Vasil looks like grupetto fodder these days.

Reminds me of Sky '10.

Unlike last year, when he missed the cut? They weren't the dominant force in the peloton then, Movistar were, and Froome won despite being frequently isolated. Stories of Sky dominance are greatly exaggerated

 

[meat puppet]

Unlike last year, when he missed the cut? They weren't the dominant force in the peloton then, Movistar were, and Froome won despite being frequently isolated. Stories of Sky dominance are greatly exaggerated

And yet, when it really mattered on A-3-D, they simply toyed with everyone before obliterating them. Apart from Froome, the smirking Underdawg was the prime example.

After that day, the tour was of academic interest mainly.

 

[ChewbaccaD]

I have precisely zero love for Porte, but to have been reading here in the silly season he won as soon as Froome crashed.

And he got smashed today, not only by Nibali but by most of the GC hopefuls, the list was long.

Sky are exposed: Sean Yates was right when he said no-one there knows about racing, not least Brailsford. Whatever numbers Porte was putting out in training, and the enthusiastic endorsement of his BFF Froome was shown to be a sham today, and it was at the expense of form riders like Wiggins and Kennaugh. Such little racing in his legs, such a poor showing today.

As for illness, that is something people use when it suits their agenda. So now Porte was ill, that is why he post-restday demolition derby didn;t happen? Portal said it, Porte just said the heat got to him. The heat was the same for everyone, and he's an Aussie FFS, heat's not an excuse.

Human rider, poor form and illness all season, no magic remedy, just meh.

Not bringing him will go down as one of the dumbest cycling moves of 2014 for sure.

 

[webvan]

Porte dropped before the beginning of the climb today...where is Brailsford neck now? Still on the line? Not taking Wiggins looked dumb a month ago, now it's a total disaster.

 

[the sceptic]

Porte dropped before the beginning of the climb today...where is Brailsford neck now? Still on the line? Not taking Wiggins looked dumb a month ago, now it's a total disaster.

Funny to see Richie dropping like a stone as soon as they hit the climb.

Begs the question, what on earth was he on last year?

 

[webvan]

Poor form and the head's not there anymore, can't help...managed a decent climb today in the end, 4'43" behind Majka I think? The real culprits are Team Cound and Brailsford who just doesn't get it.

 

[thehog]

Ritchie Porte lost 9 minutes on the climb yesterday.

This Tour is becoming an aggregation of substantial losses for Sky.

Perhaps part of the problem was caused by the Stages power meter.

Sir Dave forgot to take into account the fact that only left leg power is measured, and chose riders who's power output is inflated by their left leg dominance.

Poor little Ritchie Porte rode the climb at the power output he was told to by Tim Kerrison but clearly his Stages inflated power was insufficient to enable him to keep up with riders who train far less scientifically.

He was even passed by several riders wearing heart rate straps.

I look forward to Sky making available Ritchie's left leg power data for the stage.

A marginal gain Sir Dave might consider is employing a bike handling coach. No point having the best power to weight ratio in Le Tour if some little Italian goes so fast on the flat and down hill you fall off trying to keep up.

Noted. I did wonder why they moved away from SRM for Stages. Appeared an odd move and now it shows why.

I'd also say they have zero tactical sense, even for a stage win.

The French are showing up the Brits.

When does the Bardet to Sky thread start?

 

[thehog]

Apparently now he is sick. Hard to believe anything these guys say.

Porte attributed his collapse on stage 13 to struggling in the hot temperatures, but after stage 14 he clarified that he has been ill for more than a week.

"I have not been feeling 100 per cent so I went on antibiotics to try and knock the infection on the head," Porte told teamsky.com. "I have been feeling it on my lungs and I haven’t been breathing well.

"All the guys have been riding so strongly for me, but this bug has really taken it out of me. It’s just one of those things unfortunately."

 

[PunchingRouleur]

Apparently now he is sick. Hard to believe anything these guys say.

LOL

Brailsfraud after yesterdays stage:

“Richie was fine and feeling pretty optimistic this morning,” said Brailsford. “I think he was actually quite looking forward to this stage, and I think the length of the [final] climb suited him, so we certainly didn't see it coming, that's for sure.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Apparently now he is sick. Hard to believe anything these guys say.

That was a seriously impressive performance on stage 8 for a rider who had already been ill for a few days. Makes you wonder what he could have achieved if he had been healthy. Either that or he is just lying of course.

 

[Cycle Chic]

So its now back to what Nicolas Portal said after yesterdays stage - that Richie was feeling ill before the climb. No mention of the heat.

Why wouldnt they want to say that he's had a chest infection for a while ?

 

[thrawn]

Funny to see Richie dropping like a stone as soon as they hit the climb.

Begs the question, what on earth was he on last year?

He didn't. He got dropped before the climb.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Looks like somebody pulled the teeth out of the Tassie Devil.

Sky should dump the Froome/Porte material on the scrap heap and see if they can build something on Kennaugh/Nieve/Thomas/Stannard with the Yates brothers coming in later.

Go for a similar level as the Frencies. No alien stuff.

 

[nomapnocompass]

Aicar test...

 

[SeriousSam]

I don't think Aicar can account for such a huge difference in climbing ability compared to last year. But maybe it's just one of those things, as Richie likes to say.

 

[BYOP88]

Poor Little Richie! One minute it's just the heat that's messing with his legs, the next minute he's had an illness for several days.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

He should have asked for a cortico - tue, did wonders for his best buddy some time agoooo...

So, to make things clear, poor Ritchie was sick and Brailsfart orders Mike Snow to stay with him on the last climb and loose 9 minutes too? A tactical masterclass again by Team Sky.

The cat is out of the bag it seems.

Target testing please.

 

[Nicko.]

Noted. I did wonder why they moved away from SRM for Stages. Appeared an odd move and now it shows why.

...

It shows why what?
And how does it show?

Sincere questions.

 

[thehook]

I have to say that big mouth Richie is now back to earth all of a sudden. Hmmm I wonder why? Not the same old arrogant *** that he was last year.

Wonder why he/SKY are not the world beaters we have seen the past 2 seasons? I mean the past 2 years they had doms destroying the field in the train everyday! Why can't they just get the next guy up (porte) to crush the field? What happened all of a sudden? No more marginal gains? Shortage of pineapple juice, post stage cool downs, riders pillows lost?

Could not happen to a more arrogant ***. Payback for your/SKY's high jinks at last years tour?

 

[thehog]

He should have asked for a cortico - tue, did wonders for his best buddy some time agoooo...

So, to make things clear, poor Ritchie was sick and Brailsfart orders Mike Snow to stay with him on the last climb and loose 9 minutes too? A tactical masterclass again by Team Sky.

The cat is out of the bag it seems.

Target testing please.

Exactly.

Probably didn't help that Brailsford had set up the UCI protection for the Dawg & Cound to go off and start criticizing the UCI for "not testing" on Tenerife.

No wonder DB wants to start afresh with a French rider.

 

[webvan]

Must say the whole illness/heat BS talk is a but worrying...wonder what his friend RR has to say about that?

 

[thehog]

Must say the whole illness/heat BS talk is a but worrying...wonder what his friend RR has to say about that?

I'm sure David Walsh will provide the inside story on Richie's battle with chest infections.

FGL is right. Holding back Mike Snow with Richie if they knew he was sick makes no sense.

Sounds to me Brailsford needs a story to cover for the huge drop in form from the borgs. Froome must be sitting at home panicking at this might be the end of the party!

 

[msjett]

Well if he is sick then so be it...he seemed pretty happy for someone who was sick, so go figure...maybe nothing gets him down. Which is a big change from last year when he was so aggressive towards everyone....maybe he hasn't been drinking his pineapple juice or someone stole his special pillow.

As for all this leaving Wiggo out of the tour comments...give it a rest, 2012 was it, and he shouldn't have won anyway.

 

[thehog]

TJ is sick but you know he still rides. Porte sounded fine when interviewed after Fridays stage (http://www.steephill.tv/players/720...hboard=tour-de-france&id=307853891533&yr=2014).

Sky are clearly lying.

BMC Racing officials confirmed to VeloNews that van Garderen, who bolstered his podium hopes by attacking late in Saturday’s summit finale to Risoul, has been taking antibiotics for five days to treat a minor chest infection.

“From the beginning of the Tour, some of the guys got sick from England, and it went around the team. Tejay was the last to get it,” BMC Racing doctor Max Testa told VeloNews. “He’s been on antibiotics for a few days, and will be a total of seven or eight days.”

Van Garderen was already sounding raspy in the voice when VeloNews spoke to him at the start of Thursday’s stage.

When he sat down to talk to journalists following the mountaintop finale, van Garderen said he was missing his top-end kick, citing four crashes he suffered in the opening half of the Tour coupled with what he called bronchitis.

“I’m generally not the most explosive rider, but I think after the rest day I came down with a bit of bronchitis, and then there were the crashes and that kind of just took away a bit of my top end,” van Garderen said after cooling down. “After the rest day and into the Pyrénées, I should bounce back a little bit.”

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014...tis-holding-ground_337179#ui7AZsV6V7Dy6QJT.99