And it’s as big as they come.

Next month may witness the biggest achievement in Tasmanian sporting history.

There, I’ve said it.

And already I can sense the rumbling as a tsunami of outrage threatens to engulf the state from within, although technically that would make it more of a whirlpool.

Existing contenders for that claim spring readily to mind.

Ricky Ponting becoming Australia’s all-time leading run-scorer, Piping Lane winning the Melbourne Cup and Michael Grenda claiming the state’s first Olympic gold medal standout as individual triumphs while Tasmania’s 1960 victory over the VFL at York Park, the state’s first Sheffield Shield win in 2007 and the Australian Hockey League triumph of 2014 are hard to go past for team achievements.

I asked a few contacts and colleagues and names like cyclists Danny Clark, Amy Cure and Matthew Goss, footballers Darrel Baldock, Peter Hudson and Ian Stewart and rowers Stephen Hawkins, Simon Burgess and Scott Brennan soon surfaced.

Hockey’s Matthew Wells, boxer Daniel Geale and athlete Todd Hodgetts all conquered their respective worlds.

Apologies for any glaring omissions.

But, momentous though these achievements were for a state of half a million people, they may be about to be trumped.

In the wake of the Criterium du Dauphiné earlier this month, Chris Froome stated that Richie Porte had established himself as the favourite for a slightly larger French bike race beginning on Saturday.

It was a statement as confronting as the Alpine climb Porte had just time trialed up.

Froome, who had Porte’s assistance for two of his three Tour de France victories, said the Tasmanian had proved himself “the strongest rider in the peloton at the moment”.

Only denied victory after being gang attacked by the rest of the field, Porte had been looking to add the traditional Tour lead-in event to his earlier successes over similar week-long WorldTour stage races the Tour Down Under and Tour de Romandie.

Cyclingnews duly proclaimed the 32-year-old as “the best week-long race specimen on the planet”. 

The sport’s governing body, the UCI, ranked him the third best road rider in the world. He had been first earlier this year and has since dropped to eighth.

As Porte knows well, winning a Grand Tour involves a lot more than being the best rider in the field.

A strong support team, the right tactics, good health and, perhaps most importantly, luck are all pivotal factors.

The BMC team leader has fallen foul of all of the above over his decade-long top-flight career, from the outrageous penalty for being offered a rival’s wheel in the Giro d’Italia to the distinct lack of support riders on what became a virtual solo final Dauphiné stage.

It is hard to argue against him being the form climber in the field.

Similarly, winning the Dauphiné time trial (“arguably his best ever ride against the clock” according to cyclingnews) against such rivals as seven-time world champion Tony Martin rekindled memories of Porte’s two top-six finishes at world titles.

Maintain that form, avoid such unpredictables as crashes and mechanicals, and get some decent support and he is definitely a strong chance.

The best chance, if Froome is to be believed.

In typically understated fashion, the man himself has stated: “I'm in a good place.”

For someone familiar with such beauty as the Central Highlands, the Sideling and the East Coast, that’s a call almost as big as the third paragraph.

Last year, Porte reached the Champs Elysees in fifth place. But for an untimely puncture, he would have been second, behind only Froome, and possibly already in possession of his home state’s greatest sporting achievement.

Obviously it is as difficult to compare events across different eras as it is individual as opposed to team triumphs.

And, contrary to first impressions, cycling is as much a team sport as footy or cricket.

At the risk of over-simplifying, The Map’s win over The Big V may have been momentous at the time but was still a two-horse race while the Tour de France is 100 times that.

A cyclist winning a Grand Tour would be the equivalent of a golfer winning a major or tennis player claiming a Grand Slam. Mathew Goggin came close when he tied for fifth at the 2009 British Open while Helen Gourlay lost two Grand Slam singles finals and won four doubles crowns.

Whatever position Porte is in when he transports his sweat-soaked Tasmanian pendant into Paris on July 23, in the ultimate sink-or-swim workplace, the former Launceston lifeguard has already proved he can keep his head above water.