Porte plots place on Tour de France podium

LA ROCHE-SUR-YON, France: Australia’s Richie Porte knows the clock is ticking down on his cycling career but is confident he and his BMC team can deliver at least one podium spot on the 2018 Tour de France.

As lieutenant at Sky for both Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in the past, Porte, 33 and with just a fifth placed Tour finish to his name, is hoping to get a head-start on his rivals for a result his fans believe he deserves. “We have the horsepower to get us through the first week,” said Porte in reference to the expected windswept Western France section of the Tour that starts Saturday and needs the stronger, bigger riders. “In the team time-trial on stage three we have Stefan Kung to lead us out and we can take time off our rivals there,” said Porte, who may find he or a teammate in the coveted leader’s yellow jersey at that stage. If so, he intends to hold on to it. “I don’t think however that there is one, single clear favourite this year,” he said.

“It was nice to see Chris Froome win the Giro, I hope he’s buggered now,” he joked when asked about specific rivals. “He had a strong team there and possibly has an even stronger one here,” he added.

“But on the Tour de France guys like Vincenzo (Nibali) and Nairo (Quintana) are never going to give him a single easy day.” With regards to the trident of leaders at rival Spanish team Movistar Porte was unconvinced. “You know how hard it is to run a team with two leaders, let alone three,” he said of the Mikel Landa, Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde led team. Porte would not be drawn on Froome’s salbutamol case.

“Once again cycling has chosen to do its dirty laundry in public. Chris deserved better,” he said. Porte’s team managers talked up their leader’s chances of busting into the top three. “We have come here with the sole aim of getting this man onto the Tour de France podium,” said team Manager Jim Ochowiscz. “We came here 100 percent fit and 100 percent prepared.” Porte’s compatriot Simon Gerrans also appeared dedicated to the team leader.

Earlier Sky released detailed data about scientific nutrition regimes involving starvation rations and blow out calory binges in a bid to explain how four-times champion Froome prepared himself to win bike races. Porte laughed off the data dump as ‘fake news’ to trick rival riders.

“I know how to eat and what to eat to get me through a Tour,” said Porte when asked about Sky’s micro nutrition system.

“I reckon that’s fake news from them to try and trick their rivals into under fuelling.” Porte was also presented with gifts from an Australian cycling magazine to congratulate him and his wife on the birth of his new son. “Yes, I’m in the humbling nappy changing thing right now,” he said. BMC Manager Oschowiscz scoffed at the idea there was a security treat to Chris Froome in the wake of fears for the Sky leader’s personal safety.

Top contenders for the Tour de France: Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali are the only two men on the race to have won a Tour de France, and here AFP Sport looks at some of the riders hoping to contend for the title:

Romain Bardet (FRA/AG2R La Mondiale,

27-years-old)

2nd in 2016, 3rd in 2017:

Bardet has become more tactically aware and has mastered the dangerous art of daredevil descents, with which this Tour is peppered. But he lacks the physical power to do well in the time-trial and has the weight of the French public on his slender shoulders.

Tom Dumoulin (NED/Sunweb, 27-years-old)

33rd in 2014 (absent in 2017):

Dumoulin is a powerful roller on the plains and in cross-winds and a master of time-trialling. The Dutchman, the 2017 Giro and world time-trial champion, has improved his climbing and always races with great confidence. But the late loss of his strongest teammate Wilko Kelderman to a shoulder injury is a major blow, while his second place on this year’s Giro may have tired him.

Chris Froome (GBR/Sky, 33-years-old)

Winner 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017:

Froome gives everything he has and his mastery of all cycling skills allows the veteran to adapt to pretty much any type of tour. He is also surrounded by the highest calibre team in the peloton and he knows how to win. The stress of his long-drawn-out Salbutamol case and his heavy fall before working so hard to win the recent Giro could take a toll on the champion.

Mikel Landa (ESP/Movistar, 28-years-old)

4th in 2017:

Landa is immensely strong in the mountains and has an instinct for when to attack but there are huge question marks over how he will handle team leadership, especially as he is sharing it with Nairo Quintana.

Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/Bahrein, 33-years-old)

Winner in 2014, absent in 2017:

Nibali has a talent for making breaks nobody sees coming. His bike handling is excellent and helps make him a brilliant competitor on all terrain particularly descents. His problem, at 33, is making a difference on the ascents.