Chris Froome and Richie Porte will clash for the first time in 2017 at Sunday's Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, the first of several expected battles in 2017 before they both fight for victory at the Tour de France in July.
Porte heads to Melbourne for Sunday's one-day race as the winner of the Tour Down Under, while Froome will test his early season form in the newly upgraded WorldTour event after making his season debut at the Towards Zero Race Melbourne circuit race on the Albert Park motor racing circuit on Thursday.
Froome is targeting a fourth Tour de France victory in the summer, while Porte is hoping 2017 is his year after an excellent winter and strong start to the season. Porte left Team Sky and joined BMC in 2016 to have the freedom to target the Tour de France after helping Froome win two of his three Tour de France victories.
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The two remain friends, with Froome quick to praise his former teammate as he talked about his form and Sunday's Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
"I've always had a lot of confidence in Richie's abilities and always said he's a Tour de France contender," Froome reaffirmed during the presentation of the race, sitting alongside Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) and Nathan Haas (Dimension Data), who are also contenders for Sunday's race.
"It's still very early obviously in the season and it's probably too early to be talking (about) favourites for the Tour. Certainly for Sunday, I'd expect Richie to be up there on that final climb, as I'd expect Esteban, and Nathan to be hanging on for dear life."
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