BMC performance manager Allan Peiper believes that Richie Porte can win the Tour de France and has confirmed the Australian will lead the BMC team next July, with the team built around him.
Porte finished fifth in this year's Tour de France in his first season at BMC following his move from Team Sky. Peiper believes he could have finished as high as second overall.
"This year we finished fifth in the Tour de France, some bad luck happened on the first day and we lost a minute and a half, which probably cost him second place. Also with the crash with Chris Froome (on Mont Ventoux) they lost time and all the rest of it," Peiper told The Advocate newspaper in Porte's home state of Tasmania during a winter visit to Australia.
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"The big thing for me is that as a team we now know and we believe that he can win the Tour de France, if you can finish second, you can finish first."
The only leader for the Tour de France
Peiper does not reveal where fellow Grand Tour rider Tejay van Garderen will fit into BMC's plans to target the Tour de France in 2017 but makes it clear BMC is ready to back Porte next July.
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