Richie Porte (BMC) has questioned the decision of the Tour de France organisers to include the sinuous descent of Mont du Chat on the route of this year's race. The Australian sustained a broken collarbone and pelvis when he crashed on the descent during Sunday's dramatic stage 9 to Chambery.
"I've heard the race director say a few things but a race is a race. Would they send their son or daughter down a descent like that, and feel happy? I'm not sure," Porte said in a conference call with Cyclingnews and CyclingTips on Friday. "For me, I just think that the spectacle should be the finish on top of a mountain, not having to take unnecessary risks to get to the bottom of a stage that turned out to be a few GC guys sprinting. Is that the greatest image for cycling? I don't really know."
Many riders – Porte included – were aware of the difficulty of the Mont du Chat descent after it featured at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, but being armed with prior knowledge could not eliminate all risk. Porte crashed out of the Tour, while Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) fell in the same incident and lost ground in the battle for the final podium in Paris.
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"I wasn't going slower than the other guys [on the descent]," Porte said. "I touched my brakes on the corner and before it, there was a bit of debris on the roads. Dan Martin said to me that he had the same thing, and that his tyre locked up when he braked. That was it. I was offline at the next corner. The thing that I feel most guilty about was that I took Dan Martin down with me. I feel terrible about that. I think it's going to probably cost him a podium so that really hurts. If my bike goes down falling down mountain side and I fall into a rock face, is that safe? I don't know."
Porte is currently using a wheelchair due to his combination of injuries. "The problem is that I can't use crutches because of my collarbone. It's a little bit of a nightmare," he explained, though it means that he can at least allow his collarbone to heal naturally rather than undergo surgery.
It will be three weeks before Porte can put any pressure on his leg, and a further two – or more – before he can venture out onto the road on his bike. The Tasmanian was optimistic that he might at least pin on a race number again before the end of the season, perhaps at the Tour of Britain, but he is under no illusions about his level of performance when he does.
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