Five years leading BMC and then Trek-Segafredo's charge at the world's biggest bike race culminated in the Tasmanian becoming just the second Australian to stand on the podium in Paris last September.

When Porte announced he would finish his career at INEOS Grenadiers, where he rode from 2012-15 when it was Team Sky, it was widely reported that he would revert to the domestique role which helped Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome claim Tour victories.

But with Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal also successful, in 2018 and '19 respectively, and Richard Carapaz winning the 2019 Giro d'Italia and finishing second in the 2020 Vuelta a Espana, there is no shortage of options for Dave Brailsford's British team.

"I think they are looking to use me as a back-up," explained Porte during a break from summer training in Launceston.

"I got third last year so that's a good tactical card to have and you just never know what's going to happen on the road. People crash and they have bad luck and you've got to be ready for that and that's easier to do with the support we have in this team.

"I'll just go in good condition and see what happens."

Porte, who turns 36 on Saturday, plans to retire at the end of his two-year contract and says he couldn't think of a better place to sign off.

"It's like coming home. I'm just happy to have the opportunity to go back and finish my career at the team where I was happiest.

"At the after-party in Paris when Chris Froome won his second Tour de France, Dave Brailsford said in front of everyone that the door would always be open for me to return and he was true to his word. He also tore my contract up and renegotiated it after that so he was really good to me.

"I really feel it's just easy going back to that team.

"For the last five years, when all the buses are parked together at the Tour I'd look over at the Sky bus and wonder what their tactics were for that day."

When Richie Porte climbed to victory at the top of Willunga Hill for the seventh time in eight years on Saturday, he wasted no time thanking those who made it possible.

"One month ago I came out of quarantine a little bit rotund but I worked hard with some really good training mates back in Tassie and they really kicked me back into gear," he said as he caught his breath in the South Australian heat.

Since escaping the COVID-19 European hotbed to bring his wife, Gemma, and their young children, Luca and Eloise, back to the city of his birth, Porte has been churning out kilometres on his favourite training loop to Scottsdale and back.

His training partners are an eclectic mix of fellow pros, old mates and future prospects as the second Australian to podium at a Tour de France provides a link between Tasmania's proud cycling heritage and its exciting potential.

He may have spent the last decade accumulating impressive results in cycling's top stage races and live among the millionaire celebrities of Monaco, but the former Hagley Farm School and St Patrick's College student shows no sign of forgetting where he came from.

A day spent introducing a crop of young Tassie road, track and mountain bike riders to the likes of Lebrina, Golconda and Lietinna had Porte reflecting on his own early tyre tracks.

"I think it's time for me to start putting back into cycling," he said.

"Without guys like (his first team boss) Andrew Christie-Johnston, I would not be riding and these young kids are the future of the sport and there's some real talent amongst them.

"Cycling has always punched above its weight in Tasmania with guys like Micheal Wilson, Karl Menzies and Matthew Goss, and it's not letting up. It will be nice to be able to step away having helped guys make the same move that I made. Cycling has given me so much, it's something I want to do to give back.

"I don't really see myself as a role model but it is nice to be able to use my experiences to help them and also encourage them to keep it fun and not just stare at power metres all the time. Cycling should be fun."

Pushed in the right direction, Porte even puts names to some of those "really good training mates back in Tassie".

"Normally it would be Will Clarke but he's stuck in Spain still. There's Zac Johnson, Josh Wilson, who helped me get to Europe in the first place and is a really good mate and someone you can rely on, Steven Brown, Hamish Mackenzie, Scotty Bowden, Kaine Cannan. Nicole Frain is so talented, she's as tough as any of the guys and is ready to go to Europe.

"You spend so much time in Europe riding with other pros that it's nice to come back here and just enjoy a Scottsdale loop with guys doing 9 to 5 jobs who keep you honest."

Since announcing his move from Trek-Segafredo to INEOS Greandiers, Porte said he was encouraged to return to the relative safety of Tasmania to train by his coach, fellow Aussie Tim Kerrison.

Aside from a couple of one-day races in Belgium, Porte's first race since the Tour de France and world championships four months ago was last week's Festival of Cycling in Adelaide which replaced the Tour Down Under.

With another Willunga win under his lycra belt, he plans to skip road nationals in Ballarat before planning his next move.

"When I came out of lockdown I did not really expect much at the Festival of Cycling so to win on Willunga again was really nice. It's not the best win I've had there, but probably was the hardest.

"I'm booked to go back to Europe on February 21 but that might change. If Europe is in lockdown it does not really make sense to go, with life pretty good here.

"I just want to stay in Tassie really."

Despite the COVID complications, Porte can't wait to return to the team where he twice won Paris-Nice and assisted with three Tour de France victories.

His WhatsApp profile picture remains a five-year-old shot in Sky colours with Kerrison and sporting director Nicolas Portal, who died last March.

Porte - who will receive a key to the city from Launceston council on his 36th birthday on Saturday - said his 2021 schedule remains vague with ongoing uncertainty over whether events will go ahead, including the rescheduled Olympic Games in Tokyo.

"I would rather do Tirreno-Adriatico than Paris-Nice," he said. "Tour de Romandie was my first pro victory so I have a soft spot for that while the (Criterium du) Dauphine is the last one-week stage race that I have not won, although I've been close twice, and then it's into the Tour.

"It's hard to see (the Olympics) happening to be honest. You know it's not going to be a straight-forward year when you hear about how things are going in Europe and the rumours coming out of Japan and where there's smoke, there's usually fire. It's far from given that they're going to happen but if they do, I'd love to be there.

"I did not have the happiest experience in Rio and it was probably not the best representation of an Olympic Games either so it would be nice to go to Tokyo although it's going to be far from ideal just five days after the Tour de France which is obviously also on my program."

A two-year INEOS contract will complete 13 seasons in the elite WorldTour (SaxoBank 2010-11, Sky 2012-15, BMC 2016-18 and Trek-Segafredo 2019-20) after which Porte will hit the brakes.

"I could ride 'til I'm older but I don't really want to. I don't want to not enjoy riding my bike," he explained.

"Money is not the reason you do it, but financially I'm in a position I never really dreamed of being in, I'm 36 on Saturday and I can still win bike races. That's how I want to go out - with happy memories and not being at the back of the bunch getting my head kicked in."