The Launceston rider will again lead Team BMC’s charge to Paris and said he would love to have the support of compatriots Simon Gerrans and Rohan Dennis.

Ironically, Porte originally met both teammates in his home state but has since come to appreciate their respective qualities.

Veteran Victorian Gerrans is among the select group to have won a stage in all three Grand Tours while South Australian Dennis has been reinforcing his growing reputation in the sport by leading this year’s Giro d’Italia.

Porte has enjoyed many duels with the pair at national championships and Tour Down Under - which all three have won - and said they would offer priceless experience to his Tour campaign beginning on July 7 in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île on the west coast.

The 33-year-old played a pivotal role in luring Gerrans to BMC and believes the 37-year-old still has plenty to offer.

“Money can’t buy the sort of experience he has and races he has won,” Porte said.

“Two of the biggest one-day races out there and Grand Tour stages and you saw his experience come through in the Tour Down Under this year.

“At one point I was questioning a break that had got out to 10 minutes and Simon just said ‘We could give them 15 and we’d still catch them’ and he ended up being right.

“He is just so useful as a road captain. He makes calls about where we sit. I don’t need to think because Simon does all the thinking and someone like him has the clout and respect in the peloton.”

Porte said he first met Gerrans when they raced against each other in the Launceston Classic before they became neighbours and mates in Monaco.

With three Tour de France stage wins to his name, Gerrans has proven himself among the sport’s most versatile riders.

“He can really sprint. He has beaten Peter Sagan in hard bunch finishes and won races in small breakaways.

“He’ll be so useful for those tricky cobble stages in the Tour which are never straight forward. For the general classification riders, none of us ever do Paris-Roubaix or Tour of Flanders so having people like Simon and Greg van Avermaet in the team offers great experience.”

Dennis may be a decade younger, but the three-time national time trial champion also has two Tour stage wins to his name and has been cementing his Grand Tour credentials in this year’s Giro which he led from stage two to six and now sits 11^th with a week remaining.

“I’d love to have him on the Tour team,” Porte said.

“Anyone who watched the Tour Down Under will have seen that BMC rode all day on the Willunga stage which I eventually won. Well Rohan was the second protected rider after me but when Simon said to him ‘When this slows you are going to have to sacrifice yourself’ he did not pause for a second. And this is after he spanked me at the national time trial by nearly two minutes over 40km so he was in great form.

“His big aim is the Giro so it’ll be up to him if he does both. It will depend how he comes out of the Giro.

“We’ve known each other since the 2008 Tour of Tasmania and have got along really well ever since.

“We’ve known each other for a long time and work well together.”

Porte finished third in the Tour de Romandie and his final lead-in race to Le Tour will be the Tour de Suisse from June 9-17.