Richie Porte
From: Team Sky
To: BMC Racing
He’ll be 31 – yes we couldn’t believe that either – next time the Tour de France rolls around but Richie Porte represents one of the major marquee signings of the transfer market.
Having disappointed at the Giro d’Italia in May, Team Sky were willing to let the Australian leave and even encouraged him to join another squad. Read into that what you will but Porte remains a force in stage racing having secured Paris-Nice, Catalunya and Trentino all before the end of the spring this year. He even looked in fine fettle during the opening phases of the Giro before injury, back luck and the rules surrounding assistance from other teams conspired against him. Where he would have finished without those incidents is an unknown and Porte’s Grand Tour credentials remain for many an itch that has yet to be scratched.
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Those that doubt his talents point to the fact that he has had his chances - at the Giro in 2014 and 2015. However, last year he failed to start the Giro due to illness and his ‘plan B’ status at the Tour a couple of months later was always flimsy and unfair given his health problems at the time.
A new environment, a new set-up, and an exciting – although intriguing – double act with Tejay van Garderen at BMC could be just what the Tasmanian needs to finally move from the bracket of week-long winner and into that of three-week contender. (DB)
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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