
Richie Porte cemented his return to spiritual cycling home INEOS Grenadiers by being part of a rare WorldTour team clean sweep.
At Spain's week-long Volta a Catalunya stage race, which Porte won with Team Sky in 2015, Launceston's Monaco-based 36-year-old bounced back to form having crashed out of Paris-Nice earlier in the month.
Porte finished second to be sandwiched between Brits Adam Yates and Geraint Thomas. Just 49 seconds separated the teammates with Porte 45 off the win.
Delighted with the achievement, INEOS instantly made the podium shot its Twitter profile backdrop image while Porte took to Instagram to express his delight.
"Unbelievable week @voltacatalunya for @ineosgrenadiers," he said. "We had the kitchen sink thrown at us today so to clean sweep the podium was all the more sweet."
A thrilling final day in Barcelona saw the trio retain their overall positions, as the team worked hard over six laps of a relentless circuit around Montjuic to secure the first Catalunya podium lockout since 1960 as well as the team classification.
"We started off with big ambitions and we ended up 1-2-3 on GC," Yates said.
"There's not much more we can say really. It was the perfect team performance.
"We worked perfectly together and we controlled the race from start to finish.
"To take the top step is great, and it makes it more special to see my two team-mates on the other steps."

Track nationals
Launceston's Hamish McKenzie claimed Tasmania's firs gold medal at the national track championships in Brisbane.
Head coach Matthew Gilmore said McKenzie produced "an outstanding ride" to win the under-19 men's individual pursuit.
He had previously won silver medals in the madison with Dalton Stretton and team pursuit with Stretton and his fellow North-West Coasters Jack Menzies and Will Eaves.
"I'm so stoked, to be honest," McKenzie said.
"I came into it thinking I wasn't going to be that close ... it was like an eight-second PB. I got into a good rhythm this morning and then felt like I had a little bit left to go, so in the final, I rode off my schedule and then hit it with about four laps to go and just emptied myself."
Launceston's Josh Duffy and Lauren Perry added bronze medals in the scratch race and omnium points race respectively to their silvers in the men's 1000m time trial and women's individual pursuit.
Gravity enduro
Round five of the Tas Gravity Enduro series was held at Blue Derby over the weekend.
Category winners were: Dan Booker (elite men), Thomas Kelly and Melissa Britt (open), Angus McLarty (men 30-39), Stuart Keep (men 40-49), Julie Hadzic (women 40+), Jon Mitchell (sport), James Sharman (super masters men), Saxen Young (e-bike), Finn Girling (under-19 men), Riley Smith and Leyla Sharman (under-17s), Vinnie Manion and Lacey Adams (under-15s).