Richie Porte (BMC Racing) experienced just how cruel the Tour de France can be when he punctured inside the final five kilometres of stage 2. The Australian, who had until then ridden the perfect race, lost 1:45 to his rivals by the time he dragged himself over the line, with his ambitions of a podium place taking a severe dent.
Porte had looked comfortable throughout most of the stage, sitting near the front and avoiding incidents while his BMC teammates sat around him. Then in the blink of an eye, just as the race was at full throttle and heading towards the final climb, he punctured.
As he stood by the side of the road, with the neutral service taking what seemed like an age to replace his back wheel, one could almost sense the rider cursing his circumstances as his shoulders dropped and his head titled to the heavens as if to ask, 'why me?'
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"It was a disaster but what can you do?" Porte told reporters at the team bus after the finish.
"You're sitting second wheel, and in the perfect position and then… I don't know what I hit but the next minute the rear tire went down. It's a disaster but I don't know what you can do…. Just move on I suppose."
For a while, Porte was left on his own with no teammates to help mount a chase. BMC were still protecting their other GC asset, Tejay van Garderen, while Greg Van Avermaet was hunting for the stage win. Eventually Marcus Burghardt appeared and began pacing Porte to the finish but by then the damage was done. Even with several men to help him Porte would have conceded time.
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