Richie Porte achieved a lot more than simply winning his first Tour Down Under when he rolled over the finish line in Adelaide on Sunday.
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In addition to rivalling Donald Trump for media exposure and playing his part in making ochre a mainstream colour this week, the Launceston cyclist cemented his position as Australia’s next Tour de France winner.
Respected commentator Paul Sherwen all but said as much when he commented: “I think he could be Australia’s next Tour de France winner.”
Sherwen’s co-commentator, 12-time Tour de France stage winner Robbie McEwen, echoed the sentiment.
“He is head and shoulders above everyone else in this race,” McEwen said.
Bearing in mind that included reigning world champion Peter Sagan, this was praise as high as the Willunga Hill finish Porte has made his own over the last four years.
“He’s stepped up and is ready to win a Grand Tour. He knows how to do it now. There’s a little bit of pressure but that adds to the trust that BMC have put in him. He’s been cool, calm and collected all week.”
The Tour Down Under was far from Porte’s first World Tour win.
His resume includes Volta ao Algarve (2012), Volta a Catalunya (2015), Giro del Trentino (2015) and Paris-Nice (2013, 2015), but claiming the only World Tour event in his home country finally alerted some of Porte’s compatriots to his ability, perhaps as much as his fifth place Tour de France finish last year.
Having missed out by nine seconds in 2016, just two the year before and 10 in 2014, Porte finally added his name to an honour role that reads like a who’s who of Australian cycling.
Stuart O’Grady (1999, 2001), Michael Rogers (2002), Patrick Jonker (2004), Simon Gerrans (2006, 12, 14 and 16), Allan Davies (2009), Cam Meyer (2011) and Rohan Dennis (2015) have all won the race with Brett Aitken, Graeme Brown, Cadel Evans, Robbie McEwen, Adam Hansen, Jack Bobridge, former Tasmanian Institute of Sport coach Gene Bates and Porte’s fellow Tasmanian Matt Goss among the category winners.
On a day when fellow Tasmanians Will Clarke, Nathan Earle, Kristen Beams, Tim Paine, George Bailey and Ben Hilfenhaus shared in the televised sporting spotlight, Porte starred in the Willunga sun.
“Only disaster can stop him now,” declared McEwen after Willunga, but with memories of untimely punctures, motorcycle collisions and Olympic crashes fresh in his mind, Porte wasn’t taking anything for granted.
“This is not an easy climb so to win it is great for morale,” said the former Giro d’Italia leader.
“The biggest goal for me is the Tour de France but things are going well.”
Things are indeed going very well for Porte, well enough to wonder what he could have achieved in Paris and Rio last year given better fortune.
The Tour Down Under is known for nail-biting finishes. A year before Dennis beat Porte by two seconds, Gerrans had defeated Evans by just one.
In contrast, Porte’s two commanding stage wins earned him a huge 48-second lead to take into Sunday's last stage, which he banked to confirm the second biggest winning margin in the race’s 19-year history.
Sherwen commented that Porte’s form could not have gone unnoticed by a former teammate, three-time Tour de France winner and perennial favourite who is in Australia preparing for the Herald-Sun Tour.
“This will be the first shot in the psychological battle with his good mate Chris Froome,” he said.
Sherwen’s long-time partner in crime Phil Liggett was less restrained, gushing: “This is very, very special. Tasmanians will be out of their seats tonight.”
Porte, himself a specialist in getting out of his seat, used his Christmas break to train in Tasmania.
Skipping the national road championships in Ballarat, a traditional part of most Australian riders’ seasonal schedule, he identified every climb around Launceston and attempted to tame them. You would have to look hard but the results can be found on the trip monitoring app Strava with the likes of Bernie Sulzberger and Ben Grenda seeing several of their records falling to a familiar looking, if poorly-spelt, name.
Anyone in the vicinity of the Sideling or Poatina can expect to see more of the familiar red and black lycra in the near future as Porte again returns to familiar climes and climbs to prepare for his next European assault.
He will next contest the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on January 29 and his first major European race of the season will be attempting to claim a hat-trick of Paris-Nice titles.
Concluding his commentary on the TDU, McEwen said: “I’m a proud Australian to see Richie Porte dominate this race and get the ochre jersey that has been missing from his cupboard.”
When he was working at Launceston Aquatic Centre contemplating switching from triathlon to cycling, Porte would never have dreamt he would one day be receiving such fashion advice from one of his country’s most successful riders.
That he is now is a testament to the hours he has put in to achieving his goals but, as he said himself in Adelaide, the biggest goal is still awaiting him on July 1 in that hotbed of French cycling, er, Dusseldorf.
It will take another 23 days and 3516 kilometres to determine whether he achieves that goal, and fulfils Sherwen’s prediction, on the Champs Elysees in Paris.