Richie Porte - what do we know about him?

[del1962]

Why doesnt he pull out ? whats the point of continuing ??

Because he wants to finish the tour. If it was a minor race he probably would have.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Why doesnt he pull out ? whats the point of continuing ??

To try and beat his best performance in the tour which is 19th.

Currently 20th, but I can see Gadret dropping 10 minutes in the ITT and if Nieve (the ex climber) plays along nicely he will drop 10 minutes as well.

Could give him 18th in Paris.

 

[sniper]

I think it is more that illness in this race and througout season seems to have taken its toll.

i don't buy for a second that anybody riding the tour de france in the 3rd week is ill.
same goes e.g. for mollema, whom we're supposed to believe was ill, but is now ranked 7th and climbs with valverde.
pull the other one.

 

[darwin553]

He should hurry up and join orica greenedge and get away from Froome and Sky.

 

[thehog]

He should hurry up and join orica greenedge and get away from Froome and Sky.

Richie will fight. He told us he will keeping 'fighting'!

Sir Dave said Sky will animate the race in coming days.

 

[BYOP88]

i don't buy for a second that anybody riding the tour de france in the 3rd week is ill.
same goes e.g. for mollema, whom we're supposed to believe was ill, but is now ranked 7th and climbs with valverde.
pull the other one.

Cyclists are special. When other people are 'sick' they need to stop and rest pro-cyclists on the other hand can ride 150km a day, day in day out.

 

[thehog]

Cyclists are special. When other people are 'sick' they need to stop and rest pro-cyclists on the other hand can ride 150km a day, day in day out.

Sometimes when cyclists are sick and they've been a good Dawg they get special pills to help them fight. And win races by a big margin.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Cyclist can overcome a lot.. some ride to top 10 places in a GT with a broken collarbone..

Mollema for example, without being ill, he'd probably be 0,5% better. Which is just the difference to hanging on with the Van Garderen/Pinots, or the 3rd group where he was now..

 

[sniper]

Cyclist can overcome a lot.. some ride to top 10 places in a GT with a broken collarbone..

Mollema for example, without being ill, he'd probably be 0,5% better. Which is just the difference to hanging on with the Van Garderen/Pinots, or the 3rd group where he was now..

if he's ill, he must be taking a very effective medicine or otherwise be very well 'prepared' for this tdf.

 

[JimmyFingers]

The illness is a smokescreen. When he got shelled the rider himself said he wasn't coping with the heat well, no mention of illness. The DS said illness after that, but to me it just sounds like a PR move to deflect the tough questions Sky should be being asked about their team selection this year, which has been shown to be very poor.

Porte certainly has been ill, but if he still is then he's got one of those year long viruses. I think the are called the Cadel, or the Hushvod virus, I forget which.

What is very clear is he shouldn't have started this Tour. End of, no debate. He had neither the form or results and presumably not even the training numbers that would justify his inclusion. The reasons Brailsford cited for the exclusion of Wiggins, saying Porte was the clear Plan B rather than an in-form Wiggins or better yet the British Champion Kennaugh, is demonstrated to be an utter sham.

So you ask why? What on earth was the reason behind taking Porte as Lieutenant? His close relationship with Froome and an extraordinary 2013? Without even mentioning doping this an shoddy, shoddy way to run a cycling team. The fault lies entirely with the management: firstly allowing the schism between Froome and Wiggins to fester until it was irreconcilable, then to invest so heavily in one rider, you take his preferred lieutenant to the Tour despite a complete lack of convincing rides since January.

Nothing to do with doping, although Porte decline from last year is extreme, but very poor management. Yates said no-one at Sky knows anything about racing: this Tour they have finally been found out in a big way.

 

[BYOP88]

The illness is a smokescreen. When he got shelled the rider himself said he wasn't coping with the heat well, no mention of illness. The DS said illness after that, but to me it just sounds like a PR move to deflect the tough questions Sky should be being asked about their team selection this year, which has been shown to be very poor.

Porte certainly has been ill, but if he still is then he's got one of those year long viruses. I think the are called the Cadel, or the Hushvod virus, I forget which.

What is very clear is he shouldn't have started this Tour. End of, no debate. He had neither the form or results and presumably not even the training numbers that would justify his inclusion. The reasons Brailsford cited for the exclusion of Wiggins, saying Porte was the clear Plan B rather than an in-form Wiggins or better yet the British Champion Kennaugh, is demonstrated to be an utter sham.

So you ask why? What on earth was the reason behind taking Porte as Lieutenant? His close relationship with Froome and an extraordinary 2013? Without even mentioning doping this an shoddy, shoddy way to run a cycling team. The fault lies entirely with the management: firstly allowing the schism between Froome and Wiggins to fester until it was irreconcilable, then to invest so heavily in one rider, you take his preferred lieutenant to the Tour despite a complete lack of convincing rides since January.

Nothing to do with doping, although Porte decline from last year is extreme, but very poor management. Yates said no-one at Sky knows anything about racing: this Tour they have finally been found out in a big way.

Great post Jimmy!

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

The illness is a smokescreen. When he got shelled the rider himself said he wasn't coping with the heat well, no mention of illness. The DS said illness after that, but to me it just sounds like a PR move to deflect the tough questions Sky should be being asked about their team selection this year, which has been shown to be very poor.

Porte certainly has been ill, but if he still is then he's got one of those year long viruses. I think the are called the Cadel, or the Hushvod virus, I forget which.

What is very clear is he shouldn't have started this Tour. End of, no debate. He had neither the form or results and presumably not even the training numbers that would justify his inclusion. The reasons Brailsford cited for the exclusion of Wiggins, saying Porte was the clear Plan B rather than an in-form Wiggins or better yet the British Champion Kennaugh, is demonstrated to be an utter sham.

So you ask why? What on earth was the reason behind taking Porte as Lieutenant? His close relationship with Froome and an extraordinary 2013? Without even mentioning doping this an shoddy, shoddy way to run a cycling team. The fault lies entirely with the management: firstly allowing the schism between Froome and Wiggins to fester until it was irreconcilable, then to invest so heavily in one rider, you take his preferred lieutenant to the Tour despite a complete lack of convincing rides since January.

Nothing to do with doping, although Porte decline from last year is extreme, but very poor management. Yates said no-one at Sky knows anything about racing: this Tour they have finally been found out in a big way.

Spot on. The Kennaugh/ Wiggins thing has been debated to death but even worse, in my opinion, was the decision to select Zandio (who was in shocking form in the Dauphine and who has pretty much done nothing for a couple of years) ahead of Knees who looked in excellent shape in Switzerland and who played a major part in helping Wiggins win in 2012. Apparently Froome and Zandio are mates but Froome and Knees are not. What sort of basis is that for selecting a Tour de France team? Brailsford is clearly out of his depth and should revert to a full time role with the track team.

 

[Catwhoorg]

What is rather odd though is that DB has shown with the trackies a ruthlessness in selection in order to maximise medals.

Sir Chris Hoy not riding the Sprint in 2012 and Wendy Houvenaghel in the TP being a couple of recent examples.

 

[roundabout]

What the actual ****? Porte shouldn't have started the Tour?

He shouldn't have been plan b or whatever, but there are exactly zero sporting reasons why he should not have been included.

 

[sniper]

perhaps froome's in-race program requires a roommate he can fully trust to help administer certain vitamins.

 

[thehog]

Call me naive?

 

[JimmyFingers]

What the actual ****? Porte shouldn't have started the Tour?

He shouldn't have been plan b or whatever, but there are exactly zero sporting reasons why he should not have been included.

Yes there are reasons he should be included, but form and results aren't one of them. And frankly his performance in the Tour says that even there were strong reasons for his inclusion, strong management would have cut him and selected more in-form riders. Apart from the 'chemistry of the team' guff I see peddled as a justifiable reason to exclude Wiggins certainly doesn't apply to Kennaugh. He was told he wasn't selected because he was inconsistent.

Inconsistent. WTF? Porte's season at least has been consistent. Consistently bad. Kennaugh was withdrawn from LBL because he 'felt empty', but Porte missed half a season, yet got the nod.

Again nothing to do with doping, but management. Porte isn't a bad rider, he's just in a very poor streak of form. The TdF team for the tour wasn't picked on merit, hence Wiggins' loaded comments on the 'politics' in road racing, and how ruthless Sky now are in their pursuit of wins. He saying the things a lot of British fans are starting to ask themselves. I am glad this Tour blew up in their face, although sad for Thomas, and I do believe it is a real shame both Froome and Contador crashed out. I don't wish injury on any rider.

 

[roundabout]

He took Froome up to the last km on the penultimate Dauphine stage.

Was arguably one of the strongest in the Vosges this Tour.

Edit: what was the reason for Kennaugh's DNF in Switzerland? Seemed to be doing ok, but I guess that was the last straw

 

[thehog]

Yes there are reasons he should be included, but form and results aren't one of them. And frankly his performance in the Tour says that even there were strong reasons for his inclusion, strong management would have cut him and selected more in-form riders. Apart from the 'chemistry of the team' guff I see peddled as a justifiable reason to exclude Wiggins certainly doesn't apply to Kennaugh. He was told he wasn't selected because he was inconsistent.

Inconsistent. WTF? Porte's season at least has been consistent. Consistently bad. Kennaugh was withdrawn from LBL because he 'felt empty', but Porte missed half a season, yet got the nod.

Again nothing to do with doping, but management. Porte isn't a bad rider, he's just in a very poor streak of form. The TdF team for the tour wasn't picked on merit, hence Wiggins' loaded comments on the 'politics' in road racing, and how ruthless Sky now are in their pursuit of wins. He saying the things a lot of British fans are starting to ask themselves. I am glad this Tour blew up in their face, although sad for Thomas, and I do believe it is a real shame both Froome and Contador crashed out. I don't wish injury on any rider.

What surprised me most was how much Brailsford has lot control of the team. Even after Dawgs book and Wiggins announcing his non-inclusion Brailsford still didn't have the balls to select him.

I never saw a Wiggins as the Plan B, but as a darn good bike rider who would have attracted a lot of attention for the sponsors. After the Froome crash/Porte meltdown probably would have won a stage and maybe the ITT. I think Wiggins would have been at TVG level. He could have got Top 10, maybe Top 5 with this watered down field.

 

[roundabout]

Based on what? Beating Dennis in California?

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Porte certainly has been ill, but if he still is then he's got one of those year long viruses. I think the are called the Cadel, or the Hushvod virus, I forget which.

Jimmy, since 2011, august/septembre, it is called the BADZILLAH.

 

[thehog]

He took Froome up to the last km on the penultimate Dauphine stage.

Was arguably one of the strongest in the Vosges this Tour.

You mean Porte dropped in stage 2 to rest up for a 130km stage to deliver a broken Dawg to the base of the 'penultimate climb'?

Riiiiight.

 

[roundabout]

You mean Porte dropped in stage 2 to rest up for a 130km stage to deliver a broken Dawg to the base of the 'penultimate climb'?

Riiiiight.

No, that's not what I wrote.

 

[thehog]

No, that's not what I wrote.

I don't disagree with you, I would have included Porte in the team as well. But he was no plan B.

But to be honest there was never any mention of Plan Bs before the Tour and Wiggins never touted himself as one. He wanted to help. Wiggins should have been in that team.

You can tell the squad was hand picked by Dawg with input from Michele. Sir Dave just can't manage his team.

Can you imagine Tinkov or Riis putting up with that crap? He dispatched the Shlecks for their drinking and once he got wind of them setting up team Luxembourg.

If Riis ran Sky, Wiggins would be in. The Dawg would be kept under control from chasing everything down and Cound would be sent on a holiday.

 

[BYOP88]

I don't disagree with you, I would have included Porte in the team as well. But he was no plan B.

But to be honest there was never any mention of Plan Bs before the Tour and Wiggins never touted himself as one. He wanted to help. Wiggins should have been in that team.

You can tell the squad was hand picked by Dawg with input from Michele. Sir Dave just can't manage his team.

Can you imagine Tinkov or Riis putting up with that crap? He dispatched the Shlecks for their drinking and once he got wind of them setting up team Luxembourg.

If Riis ran Sky, Wiggins would be in. The Dawg would be kept under control from chasing everything down and Cound would be sent on a holiday.

I miss Cound on twitter.