LEADING the Giro d'Italia would be nothing new to Richie Porte.
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But winning it would be.
The 30-year-old Launceston cyclist has already spent three days of his life in the famed maglia rosa - the pink Italian version of the better known French yellow jersey reserved for the leaders of the cycling calendar's biggest two annual events.
The difference between those heady days of 2010 when Porte announced himself to the cycling world in his first Grand Tour and this year's race, which begins on Saturday, May 9, is that this time around if he gets the cherished garment back onto his 59kg frame he will be expected to keep it there.
Five years is a long time in any sport, but it must feel like a lifetime to Porte.
In the time since his breakthrough showing, when he won the young rider's classification and finished seventh overall, he has confirmed his potential with a lucrative move to the sport's benchmark team and cemented his status with a series of increasingly eye-catching elite-level results taking him to the top of the UCI rankings.
Porte's support was pivotal to the Tour de France victories of teammates Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and Chris Froome the following year, and he even took over team leadership when Froome's title defence ended on rain-soaked cobblestones last year.
Outside the three Grand Tours, the most prestigious stage race on the World Tour is Paris-Nice which only has two Australian names among its 73 winners and both of them are Richie Porte.
Elsewhere the honour role reads like a who's who of cycling, with other multiple winners including Alberto Contador, Laurent Jalabert, Miguel Indurain, Sean Kelly, Joop Zoetemelk and Eddy Merckx.
By his own admission Porte's 2014 was a season to forget, but 2015 is already the best of his career by at least the 932 kilometres which separate Paris and Nice.
He has won three consecutive stage races, including the Volta a Catalunya and last week's Giro del Trentino plus the Australian time trial title and queen stages of the Tour Down Under and Volta ao Algarve.
He has tasted success in every event contested this year and for someone so recently engaged has spent an unhealthy amount of time being kissed by podium girls.
A year after illness denied him the chance to lead Sky into the Giro, Porte is ready to resume the responsibility and the course couldn't suit the time-trialling climber much better.
The third and final week features a huge 59-kilometre individual time trial before stages listed as 165km (mountains), 136km (flat), 172km (hilly), 236km (mountains) and 196km (mountains) before the final roll into Milan.
"I think this season I'm back to where I need to be," Porte has said. "Being able to win those big races is good for your confidence. I'm trying not to get caught up in the pressure of it and just trying to look at it as another race. But I think for me it's my big opportunity to go and lead a big race for the team. And whatever happens, happens."
Whatever does happen will be worth watching and SBS is showing all 21 stages live. Set the alarm clock, prepare your sicknotes and get ready for an Italian job which promises to be almost as entertaining as Michael Caine's 1969 epic, albeit minus Benny Hill's mildly-perverted professor.