Despite numerous cycling achievements including two wins at Paris-Nice (2013 and ’15), the 2015 Australian time trial title, the Volta ao Algarve (2012), Giro del Trentino (2015), Volta a Catalunya (2015) and this year’s Tour Down Under and Tour de Romandie, the 32-year-old Tasmanian has unfinished business at Grand Tours.

Porte led the 2010 Giro d’Italia before claiming its young rider classification and seventh place overall but would love to bank a stage win at one of Europe’s big three races.

The question of whether he has previously done so is contentious.

Twice he finished second behind Team Sky leader Chris Froome in mountainous stages of the Tour de France and added a third place finish in the 2013 team time trial.

But opinions vary on whether he has a stage win to his name.

The confusion dates back to the penultimate stage of the 2012 Vuelta a Espana.

Porte was among a breakaway on the 171-kilometre leg from Segovia and eventually went clear with Katusha rider Denis Menchov who accelerated away within sight of the mountain-top finish in Bola del Mundoto to take the stage by 17 seconds.

The Russian has since been found to have had “adverse biological passport findings” and been disqualified from the Tour de France results of 2009, 2010 (when he finished second) and 2012.

However, his performance in Spain in the last of those years appears to remain in the record books.

Wikipedia still lists him as the stage winner, as does Porte’s own website. 

But the Launceston rider admits the situation is far from clear and would like to put it beyond all doubt by claiming a stage in this year’s Tour, which begins with a time trial in Dusseldorf on Saturday.

Porte will lead Team BMC into the 104th Tour, hoping to join Cadel Evans as its only Australian winners.

Evans had won stages and worn the famed yellow jersey several times before his 2011 success but Porte is yet to do either in six previous attempts.

“I’ve finished second a few times and had some thirds so I’d like to change that,” Porte told The Examiner.

“To win a stage of the Tour changes guys’ lives.

“I’d love to be on the final podium but I want to win stages as well but I cannot go in breakaways because the peloton would not let me so I would need to have a good day and be the strongest on one of the climbing stages.”

Porte has already shown himself to be one of the best climbers in the peloton this season and will be looking towards stages in the Pyrenees and Alps to make his bid for stage glory.

If successful, he would join the likes of West Tamar duo Micheal Wilson and Matthew Goss as Tasmanian Grand Tour stage winners.

Ironically, Goss was in the Orica-Greenedge squad which won the 2013 Tour de France team time trial and pushed Porte’s team down to third, and also claimed individual stage wins in both Italy and Spain.

After representing Australia at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, Wilson won a stage of the Giro d’Italia in 1982 and Vuelta a Espana in Madrid the following year.