With plenty of mountains but little time trialling, the 104th edition of the Tour de France will be won out of the saddle according to Tasmanian favourite Richie Porte.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As he prepares to lead Team BMC in his seventh straight Tour de France, the Launceston 32-year-old talked The Examiner through the 3540-kilometre route from Düsseldorf to Paris.
Taking in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France while coming within sight of The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and Spain, the 21 stages appear to set up a mouth-watering contest between Porte, joint favourite Chris Froome, plus Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana.
“The first week is when big accidents happen and I think we’ve got arguably the best guys to get through that,” Porte said.
“I lost two minutes to a silly puncture last year. This year, with the guys we have, hopefully we should be able to get through that and into the Alps and Pyrenees without any time loss.
“Even last year in the Tour I showed that I was climbing well and beating some of the best in the world. This year I’ve won the queen stage at Paris-Nice against guys like Alberto after days of 4000m climbing.
“So I’m confident but it’s more nerve-wracking getting through the stages with sprint finishes where there is not much to gain but plenty to lose if you crash or have a mechanical which can be the end of your podium dreams.”
Rather than the traditional story of the general classification contenders waiting for the big climbs to make their moves, Porte could be pushing his case for leadership from day one.
The race begins on Saturday with a 14km individual time trial with a pancake flat profile pointing towards a winner like four-time world champion Tony Martin.
However, Porte overpowered Martin and Froome to claim the Dauphine time trial stage and Australia’s first Tour yellow jersey winner Phil Anderson believes his compatriot could do the same on the flat.
"Porte needs to ride to win the Tour de France, not ride to beat Froome,” Anderson told cyclingnews.
“He is good enough and needs to get that monkey off his back. I would expect Porte to beat Froome on this course. He will be better and want a psychological victory but the results in the next ITT in Marseille (Stage 20) may prove to be a different story."
Porte said a feature of the course is the number of stages that finish beyond, rather than on, the final climb.
While the traditional climbs up Alpe d’Huez and Mont Ventoux have been spurned there are plenty of alternatives filling the void.
The 181km ninth stage is considered the hardest in the Tour, features three huge Alpine climbs culminating in the 1504m Mont du Chat and is one of those highlighted by Porte that descends to the finish in Chambery.
After taking in the Pyrenees the race returns to the Alps, topping out at 2645m on the the Col du Galibier, before another speedy descent finish to stage 17 and a genuine mountain-top finish up 14km to the Col d’Izoard’s 2360m finish line the next day.
“I would prefer a few more mountain-top finishes and there’s not a lot of time trialling,” Porte added.
“But it is still a hard Tour over some of the biggest climbs in Europe so the road will still settle the battles.”