Richie Porte - what do we know about him?

[thehog]

Porte is a very talented rider. He's no chump. Way more talented than Froome or Wiggins. That would be frustrating for him. The sad part for Porte when riding for the likes of these guys is Simon Gerrans will end up having a better career than him.

In saying all that. Porte is not a Tour contender.

 

[blackcat]

Re:

How can you not cheer for Porte, his style uphill is pretty fun, just brute force.

Been interesting how for two weeks his been downplaying his form, and his performances at the Nats seemed to support that. I'm thinking he might be better geared towards the business end of the season this time around, although yesterday throws a spanner in that theory.

how can you not cheer for LRP.

good question.

It is a little bit like the question, "when is too young to introduce your child to Thomas The Tank Engine".


the answer is: if I need to spell it out. Its never too young, you can introduce the foetus in the womb to Thomas the Tank.

 

[sniper]

...
In saying all that. Porte is not a Tour contender.

b..b..but he just lost the fat.

Riis tore Porte to pieces over his weight, which he managed to drop from 72kgs to 65kgs.

agree about Porte's talent.
Should he ever win the TDF, at least you can legitimately say he had the engine all along.

 

[blackcat]

Praties #ftw

he got to 72kgs just cos he was endorsing the complex carbohydrates of the team sponsor for andrew chritie-johnson's team Praties

 

[thehog]

...
In saying all that. Porte is not a Tour contender.

b..b..but he just lost the fat.

Riis tore Porte to pieces over his weight, which he managed to drop from 72kgs to 65kgs.

agree about Porte's talent.
Should he ever win the TDF, at least you can legitimately say he had the engine all along.

Porte will never win a Tour ever. He lacks the intelligence to do so. He's not a very smart bike rider. Riis would have taught him tactics like he displayed at the 2010 Giro. Sky taught him 300w for 4 hours then 350-400w for 23 minutes. That might win a one week stage race but never a GT. Perhaps with enough drugs it might compensate but doubtful.

 

[blackcat]

i am agreeing with Hog, he shoulda stayed with Riis

 

[sniper]

Re:

i am agreeing with Hog, he shoulda stayed with Riis

Walsh/Swart logic:
Froome rooms with Porte, who sees Tafi as his second father and rode for Riis, therefore Froome = clean.

 

[blackcat]

Re: Re:

i am agreeing with Hog, he shoulda stayed with Riis

Walsh/Swart logic:
Froome rooms with Porte, who sees Tafi as his second father and rode for Riis, therefore Froome = clean.

Sniper, you would be better to just assume everyone dopes, that you do not need to access proof of them doping, and just accept the sport for what it is, entertainment, it aint a morality play, it never was, and I dont think the individuals ar better or worse for doping, my appeal to authority on this is the poster 131313 who was/is a domestic pro in America and was a frequent contributor here a while back.

 

[thehog]

Re:

i am agreeing with Hog, he shoulda stayed with Riis

Tafi and Riis kept him in Italy for the winter of 2009/2010, which was super smart. He became so much stronger and intelligent. At Sky he'd fly back to Australia and do 400km bike rides around Tasmania, which is completely *** way to train in the off season.

 

[sniper]

Re: Re:

i am agreeing with Hog, he shoulda stayed with Riis

Walsh/Swart logic:
Froome rooms with Porte, who sees Tafi as his second father and rode for Riis, therefore Froome = clean.

Sniper, you would be better to just assume everyone dopes, that you do not need to access proof of them doping, and just accept the sport for what it is, entertainment, it aint a morality play, it never was, and I dont think the individuals ar better or worse for doping, my appeal to authority on this is the poster 131313 who was/is a domestic pro in America and was a frequent contributor here a while back.

ow i agree.

i have no beef with individual dopers.
the steaks are so high.
rather i'd grill the backers and fixers and federation headmen.
the hypocrisy needs to be fleshed out.

Porte a doper? Say it aint so.

 

[roundabout]

Re: Re:

i am agreeing with Hog, he shoulda stayed with Riis

Tafi and Riis kept him in Italy for the winter of 2009/2010, which was super smart. He became so much stronger and intelligent. At Sky he'd fly back to Australia and do 400km bike rides around Tasmania, which is completely *** way to train in the off season.

That's a nice story, except that it has nothing in common with reality.

Let's have a look at where Porte was on GC in Paris-Nice when he abandoned on the last day

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/paris-nice-2010/stage-6/results/

149/152

Julich is the actual person who turned Porte's season around.

 

[thehog]

Re: Re:

i am agreeing with Hog, he shoulda stayed with Riis

Tafi and Riis kept him in Italy for the winter of 2009/2010, which was super smart. He became so much stronger and intelligent. At Sky he'd fly back to Australia and do 400km bike rides around Tasmania, which is completely *** way to train in the off season.

That's a nice story, except that it has nothing in common with reality.

Let's have a look at where Porte was on GC in Paris-Nice when he abandoned on the last day

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/paris-nice-2010/stage-6/results/

149/152

Julich is the actual person who turned Porte's season around.

No. He spent the winter in Italy and attributed that to toughening up for the that season. He was living and training with Brett Lancaster.

Your article has nothing in it. Sorry.

Wurf recalls fellow Tasmanian's amateur sporting days

Cameron Wurf is one of the three Tasmanians at the Giro d'Italia along with Matthew Goss and Riche Porte. Wurf has been working as a domestique for Michele Scarponi and therefore during yesterday's epic stage 11 to L'Aquila, he was asked by the management of his Androni-Diquigiovanni team to step back from the front group and pace at the head of the peloton.

It was the stage when Saxo Bank's Porte, who was in that front group, took back the race lead. After Porte regained the maglia rosa, Wurf shared some accounts of his fellow Tasmanian's early sporting history.

"There are two things people might not know about Richie," Wurf said to Cyclingnews at the start of stage 12. "He broke Cadel Evans' record of the ascent of Mount Wellington two years ago by one minute. This is the most famous climb we have in Tasmania. We always use it for training."

"Secondly, when he was a triathlete, he used to run the 10 kilometres under 30 minutes after swimming and cycling. In Australia, we always judge an athlete by how fast he can run. Or by how fast he can swim, but Richie was an exceptional swimmer, too."

Chronologically speaking, cycling is Porte's third sport. He switched from swimming to triathlon and then finally to cycling in 2006. "He's been a cyclist for four years only," said Andrea Tafi, who is the most recent Italian winner of Paris-Roubaix. Tafi welcomed Porte as an amateur in Tuscany and connected him to Saxo Bank, a team Tafi rode for when it was named CSC in 2003.

When Porte joined the Danish outfit, he impressed everyone during the winter training camp, when all the riders were asked to swim as long as they could underwater. The stars of that exercise had scored around 50 metres.

Then when the Australian neo-pro took his turn, some staff members and riders had a moment of panic as they didn't see Porte coming out where they expected. Instead, he swam a distance of 72 metres, giving an early indication to his new team and staff of his lung capacity.

Since this exploit, the "Tasmanian devil" Porte has been called "fish" at Saxo Bank.

In the coming stages, the fish will have a chance to swim some troubled waters as the defender of the maglia rosa at the Giro d'Italia.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/giros-leader-porte-exceptional-in-more-than-cycling/

 

[Archibald]

Porte will never win a Tour ever. He lacks the intelligence to do so. He's not a very smart bike rider. Riis would have taught him tactics like he displayed at the 2010 Giro. Sky taught him 300w for 4 hours then 350-400w for 23 minutes. That might win a one week stage race but never a GT. Perhaps with enough drugs it might compensate but doubtful.

Pardon? It won GT's for two other sky riders...
(not saying it'll work for LRP though, only that [the bolded] has won GTs)

 

[movingtarget]

...
In saying all that. Porte is not a Tour contender.

b..b..but he just lost the fat.

Riis tore Porte to pieces over his weight, which he managed to drop from 72kgs to 65kgs.

agree about Porte's talent.
Should he ever win the TDF, at least you can legitimately say he had the engine all along.

Porte will never win a Tour ever. He lacks the intelligence to do so. He's not a very smart bike rider. Riis would have taught him tactics like he displayed at the 2010 Giro. Sky taught him 300w for 4 hours then 350-400w for 23 minutes. That might win a one week stage race but never a GT. Perhaps with enough drugs it might compensate but doubtful.

Intelligence rarely wins bike races these days. You only have to hear the riders before a race. They tell the interviewer what they are going to to do in the race and generally do it and then they state what their rivals are expected to do and that usually happens as well. There are not many surprises either in results or tactics. I agree that training has to be smarter and Sky have a habit of running their domestiques into the ground. Still it could be fun in the Tour if Froome drops everyone except for his good mate who is sitting on his back wheel instead of vice versa. Porte just may not have the constitution or the mental strength to win a GT. Not many do. Most GTs are won by multiple winners. I have a feeling that this year's Tour could be better than the last one. Contador will want to break Froome's run, Froome will want a triple win, Nibali and Quintana have points to prove and throw in Porte and a few others into the mix who may not win the race but could cause problems on some stages sets it up nicely.

 

[thehog]

...
In saying all that. Porte is not a Tour contender.

b..b..but he just lost the fat.

Riis tore Porte to pieces over his weight, which he managed to drop from 72kgs to 65kgs.

agree about Porte's talent.
Should he ever win the TDF, at least you can legitimately say he had the engine all along.

Porte will never win a Tour ever. He lacks the intelligence to do so. He's not a very smart bike rider. Riis would have taught him tactics like he displayed at the 2010 Giro. Sky taught him 300w for 4 hours then 350-400w for 23 minutes. That might win a one week stage race but never a GT. Perhaps with enough drugs it might compensate but doubtful.

Intelligence rarely wins bike races these days. You only have to hear the riders before a race. They tell the interviewer what they are going to to do in the race and generally do it and then they state what their rivals are expected to do and that usually happens as well. There are not many surprises either in results or tactics. I agree that training has to be smarter and Sky have a habit of running their domestiques into the ground. Still it could be fun in the Tour if Froome drops everyone except for his good mate who is sitting on his back wheel instead of vice versa. Porte just may not have the constitution or the mental strength to win a GT. Not many do. Most GTs are won by multiple winners. I have a feeling that this year's Tour could be better than the last one. Contador will want to break Froome's run, Froome will want a triple win, Nibali and Quintana have points to prove and throw in Porte and a few others into the mix who may not win the race but could cause problems on some stages sets it up nicely.

If only someone could have lunch with LRP, look into eyes and tell us if he will be doping at BMC?

 

[Archibald]

...
In saying all that. Porte is not a Tour contender.

b..b..but he just lost the fat.

Riis tore Porte to pieces over his weight, which he managed to drop from 72kgs to 65kgs.

agree about Porte's talent.
Should he ever win the TDF, at least you can legitimately say he had the engine all along.

Porte will never win a Tour ever. He lacks the intelligence to do so. He's not a very smart bike rider. Riis would have taught him tactics like he displayed at the 2010 Giro. Sky taught him 300w for 4 hours then 350-400w for 23 minutes. That might win a one week stage race but never a GT. Perhaps with enough drugs it might compensate but doubtful.

Intelligence rarely wins bike races these days. You only have to hear the riders before a race. They tell the interviewer what they are going to to do in the race and generally do it and then they state what their rivals are expected to do and that usually happens as well. There are not many surprises either in results or tactics. I agree that training has to be smarter and Sky have a habit of running their domestiques into the ground. Still it could be fun in the Tour if Froome drops everyone except for his good mate who is sitting on his back wheel instead of vice versa. Porte just may not have the constitution or the mental strength to win a GT. Not many do. Most GTs are won by multiple winners. I have a feeling that this year's Tour could be better than the last one. Contador will want to break Froome's run, Froome will want a triple win, Nibali and Quintana have points to prove and throw in Porte and a few others into the mix who may not win the race but could cause problems on some stages sets it up nicely.

If only someone could have lunch with LRP, look into eyes and tell us if he will be doping at BMC?

is there a suspicion that he won't be?

 

[Ferminal]

Re: Re:

i am agreeing with Hog, he shoulda stayed with Riis

Tafi and Riis kept him in Italy for the winter of 2009/2010, which was super smart. He became so much stronger and intelligent. At Sky he'd fly back to Australia and do 400km bike rides around Tasmania, which is completely *** way to train in the off season.

That's a nice story, except that it has nothing in common with reality.

Let's have a look at where Porte was on GC in Paris-Nice when he abandoned on the last day

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/paris-nice-2010/stage-6/results/

149/152

Julich is the actual person who turned Porte's season around.

Probably repeating myself here...

Pretty sure he said in no uncertain terms that P-N made him realise he couldn't cruise now that he got his contract.

My interpretation of that is the standard "got a pro contract so don't want to/can't dope like in the amateurs" although unlike many others he acted to turn it around quickly.

Although Porte is no longer at Sky the doping ring is not team-based so wouldn't expect prep to be any worse unless something in the new team scares him (Allan Peiper )

 

[sniper]

Re: Re:

good post, just wanted to respond to this:

Although Porte is no longer at Sky the doping ring is not team-based so wouldn't expect prep to be any worse unless something in the new team scares him (Allan Peiper )

rumor has it that the core of english/aussie riders at Sky and BC did/do get collective treatment.
Though that doesn't mean riders aren't also doing extra stuff on their own of course.

And the protection from up above, too, is team-based; Oliver works at Sky, not at BMC.
That said, with Cookson all anglophone teams must feel pretty safe.
And BMC have Sciandri. Cookson will do anything to protect Sciandri.

 

[rick james]

Bloody Anglo Saxons and their flipping colonies...long live the empire

 

[blackcat]

Re:

Bloody Anglo Saxons and their flipping colonies...long live the empire

muscular christianity chariots of fire gordonstoun

 

[doperhopper]

Maybe LRP is just that kind of a guy who shows great talent and then it turns out he's a bad responder (or not good enough to stay at the top) - can be as simple as that, plenty of examples throughout the history.

 

[thehog]

Speaking after the stage, Porte was unperturbed by the time loss saying that he hadn’t placed many expectations on his performance in Oman. “It was quite a tough stage, it was fast, quite warm but it wasn’t unexpected that I lost time,” Porte said. “I’m not really here with any ambitions; I’d rather just try to get through the race and try to get some form out of it. It’s a great race to get the kilometres in the legs. For me the big target next is Paris-Nice.”

Noooooooooooo! Not LRP!! He can't become Tyler Hamilton! Noooooo!

 

[Rollthedice]

Apparently while checking out, he had to return those 100 Watts he received from Sky. It's quite possible those LRP Watts will be passed to Kwiat.

 

[LeindersGains]

Speaking after the stage, Porte was unperturbed by the time loss saying that he hadn’t placed many expectations on his performance in Oman. “It was quite a tough stage, it was fast, quite warm but it wasn’t unexpected that I lost time,” Porte said. “I’m not really here with any ambitions; I’d rather just try to get through the race and try to get some form out of it. It’s a great race to get the kilometres in the legs. For me the big target next is Paris-Nice.”

Noooooooooooo! Not LRP!! He can't become Tyler Hamilton! Noooooo!

It has already happened. His best result this year will be his 2nd place in Down Under. Can't wait to see Thomas drop him in Paris-Nice.

 

[thehog]

Speaking after the stage, Porte was unperturbed by the time loss saying that he hadn’t placed many expectations on his performance in Oman. “It was quite a tough stage, it was fast, quite warm but it wasn’t unexpected that I lost time,” Porte said. “I’m not really here with any ambitions; I’d rather just try to get through the race and try to get some form out of it. It’s a great race to get the kilometres in the legs. For me the big target next is Paris-Nice.”

Noooooooooooo! Not LRP!! He can't become Tyler Hamilton! Noooooo!

It has already happened. His best result this year will be his 2nd place in Down Under. Can't wait to see Thomas drop him in Paris-Nice.

LRP might get aggressive. He won't allow the Sky train to dominate.