Richie Porte is 147 horizontal kilometres and 4.19 vertical away from claiming his most elusive of cycling victories.
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A trademark blistering uphill attack in the French Alps has put the Tasmanian veteran on the brink of winning the Critérium du Dauphiné, the traditional Tour de France lead-in race in which he has twice finished second and long targeted to complete his impressive resumé.
Five months after telling The Examiner: "The Dauphiné is the last one-week stage race that I have not won, although I've been close twice", Porte assumed race leadership with one stage remaining.
Attacking with 8km remaining of the 171km penultimate mountain-top stage from Saint-Martin-Le-Vinoux to the ski resort of La Plagne, the 36-year-old father-of-two finished second to establish a 17-second lead in a race where he finished runner-up in 2013 and '17.
"I've been here before on the penultimate stage and having the yellow jersey, but I'm under no illusions, it's not going to be easy tomorrow," Porte said.
"I'm over the moon to be in the yellow jersey, but the Dauphiné is always won on the last day. It's going to be a big battle tomorrow and I'd love to finish it off."
Having twice finished tours in second place behind INEOS Grenadier teammates this year, last year's Tour de France podium finisher is thrilled at the prospect of adding the Dauphiné to wins in Paris-Nice (2013 and '15), Tour de Suisse (2018), Volta a Catalunya (2015), Tour de Romandie (2017), Giro del Trentino (2015) and Tour Down Under (2017 and '20).
But he is wary of the task ahead on the final stage via six categorised climbs to Les Gets near the Swiss border.
"The Joux Plane is a climb to have nightmares about, it's one of the most solid climbs in world cycling. Whatever happens tomorrow we'll give it our all and I'm motivated to try and bring this jersey home."
Phil Anderson was the last Australian to win the race in 1985 - the year of Porte's birth in Launceston - although, between them, Porte, Cadel Evans and Michael Rogers finished second seven times between 2007 and 2017.
Sitting sixth overall after six of the eight stages, 15 seconds off the lead and well supported by teammate Geraint Thomas, Porte attacked on the 17km uphill finish and established a breakaway group of four.
Ukraine's Mark Padun (Bahrain Victorious) raced away to claim the stage but another timely burst in the final kilometre earned Porte second place and the leader's yellow jersey as Thomas slotted into third overall.
"When Movistar set that pace then they didn't really have many guys left, Geraint said: 'Off you go'," he said. "That was the plan this morning, that I attack, so we had the numbers and Tao (Geoghegan Hart) was with with G. It's great to have numbers, great to be back in this team and I'm enjoying riding my bike."
I'm under no illusions, it's not going to be easy
- Richie Porte
One of three Australians to finish in the top five of the stage, Monaco-based Porte is enjoying a hugely successful 2021 having returned to the team formerly known as Sky.
Having been granted the key to the City of Launceston in January, he maintained a phenomenal record of victories on Willunga Hill in South Australia and, despite crashing out of Paris-Nice, has since finished runner-up while helping teammates win both Volta a Catalunya and Tour de Romandie.
Porte is scheduled to ride his 11th Tour de France beginning on June 26.