Team Saxo Bank’s Richie Porte has had an incredible season thus far in what is his first year in the ProTour ranks. The 25 year old Tasmanian was able to notch up his first win during the spring in the time trial at the Tour of Romandie, and went into his first Grand Tour, the Giro d’Italia, motivated by his recent success and surrounded by a young Saxo Bank squad. He confirmed his win in Switzerland by taking the first white jersey of the race to lead the Best Young Rider competition, and amazingly added three-days in the coveted maglia rosa to his credit.
Porte stayed strong throughout one of the toughest Grand Tour routes in the modern era, and finished the final time trial in Verona to secure the white jersey in the Italian Tour. He took in his first major Classic in San Sebastián, and was able to land himself in the major break of the day to finish in tenth place. His performance there showed that the Australian was capable of riding into his top form again, and further built his confidence as he looks toward the world championships in Geelong and the Italian Classics.
VeloNation spoke to Porte about his first year in the ProTour, and his experiences so far this season. He discusses his progression through the ranks, his biggest moments in 2010 and what he hopes the rest of the season and his bright future will hold in store.
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VeloNation: It's your first year in the ProTour team following two years on the Australian registered Praties continental team. How did you end up making it over to ride for Saxo Bank?
Richie Porte: I went to Italy in 2007 and raced amateur there for around three months, and then I went back for half the season in 2008. Last year I did a full season there. I rode with Andrea Tafi’s team and obviously he had a link to Bjarne [Riis], but my real link to Bjarne was through Stuart O’Grady, and I was just lucky that he stuck his neck out and helped me to get there [onto the team], it really was because of Stuey.
VN: You got your first win at the ProTour level in Romandie against a strong field. You had a bit of bad luck in the prologue, but were able to bounce back with a great time trial - did you surprise yourself?
RP: I wanted to get a win in my first year, but I didn’t really expect it to come in a race like that. Our team bus driver gave me the results and told me to hang onto that, you see Rogers and Valverde and those guys listed, and they were a fair way behind, too.
Maybe I got a little lucky with the time slot. When I went, maybe I had a little bit more favorable winds, but a win is a win, and you’ve got to take them whenever they come. [laughs]
VN: So is Bradley McGee your coach?
RP: Yeah, I work with Bobby Julich a lot as well. I’ve got two really good guys around me that are the same sort of rider as me, and for me Bobby is just fantastic. He’s just so clued up with his training methods and he’s just a great guy as well. It’s nice to be on a team where you get to work with those sort of guys.
VN: On Saxo Bank the younger riders get the same treatment as the more seasoned guys then?
RP: Yeah, it’s great. Even the sponsors have been really receptive to feedback. Specialized has been great with translating what we say into production. It’s amazing to me that they would look after a neo-professional like that.
VN: So you took the start in your first Grand Tour at the Giro d’Italia this year, and it probably couldn't have gone much better. Did you see yourself as a GT contender before this year?
RP: The thing with me is that I was always getting results, but was always flying under the radar with such a good crop of young Aussies coming through. I came to the sport a little bit later, and I guess I did it the hard way with coming through Italy. I’ve always thought that I could go strong over three weeks and I really think that’s where my future is going to lie – with the week-long and three-week races. That’s really what I want to focus on. Doing the bigger races is what I enjoy doing, so that’s the way I hope my career goes.
VN: What was your experience like with wearing the maglia rosa?
RP: I had three days in the pink jersey and they should have been the best three days of my cycling career. To be totally honest, I was just so sick..I picked up gastro the day I got the jersey and then with riding in the rain and everything. I was lucky to start with the jersey – I didn’t eat dinner or breakfast. All I had before my first stage in the pink jersey was some Ritter Sport chocolate and some chocolate chip cookies. [laughs] I guess that’s not the way it would usually go, but it was definitely an honor to have the jersey for three days in such a cycling crazy country like Italy. It was incredible to also wear the white jersey and to be so high on GC.
Saxo went there with a team of young guys and we weren’t really expected to figure in the race, but in a lot of ways we animated the race. We had two stage wins, and we had Sebastian Haedo up there in the bunch kicks as well, so it was just the most amazing three weeks of my cycling career.
VN: How will your performance at the Giro change your 2011 season and long-term goals with the team?
RP: I guess hopefully next year I can really peak for a Grand Tour. This year I just trained normally up to it, so now I’ve got a bit more experience. It’s pretty exciting to target one of the big three races and have a real good go at it.
VN: What did you think about the route in this year’s Giro?
RP: It was hard at the time, and I don’t really think there’s going to be a Grand Tour that’s going to get that much harder. I really enjoy it when it becomes a fight – when it was on in that race, it was really on. It does give me a little bit of confidence with it being such a hard three-week race. I won’t lie, I did get lucky there to take the pink jersey in those circumstances, but I put myself in a good position to do it.
VN: There are two Australian-backed teams vying for ProTour licenses next year. The three jerseys won at the Giro seem to define the path of cycling in Australia. What's your reaction to those developments and what do you think they will mean to cycling back home?
RP: In Australia cycling is not such a big sport, but you know I think basically every English speaking team basically has a token Aussie or two in there. It sort of seems like the next logical step there will be a ProTour team out of Australia, and that’s pretty exciting for us. We’ve all heard the rumors, but in cycling I guess there are a lot of rumors. We’ll just wait and keep our fingers crossed. It’s certainly only a matter of time before we do have our own ProTour team.
VN: In San Sebastián you rode well and confirmed that you could hit top form again – how was it riding in a Classic in the break of the day?
RP: I didn’t ride so smart that day, I’ll admit that! [laughs] I had good legs and, with me, I ride a lot on confidence, so to get away with such a good group and to finish tenth in a race like San Sebastian, it showed me that when I’m climbing well I can climb with some pretty good guys. That race itself gave me a little more confidence in my legs.
VN: There has been a lot of controversy with the recent choices for the Australian Worlds team, especially with Robbie McEwen being left off the list - what is your take on that situation?
RP: That was a massive surprise to us all. I know he wasn’t happy, and I understand why he wasn’t, but then there’s other guys like Matthew Goss and Allan Davis who are fast – I guess it was just a hard decision for the selectors. It’s always going to be a finger pointing exercise afterwards if it comes back to a bunch kick, but I guess the selectors know the course pretty well and they know us as riders. I guess they’ve got the best team in their opinion and we’ll run with that.
It would have been a mark of respect to let him [McEwen] race. He’s probably done as much as any big rider for cycling in Australia. It would have been nice for him to race with the home crowd, but I guess it’s just not to be.
VN: Do you agree with the selector’s decision to leave you off the road team and put you in the time trial?
RP: I had a good chat with Neil Stephens and it’s not that they didn’t think I was capable of doing it, they just thought that I could figure in the top ten or top five in the time trial. I’m reserved for the road race, so you just don’t know what’s going to happen in the next month or so leading up. I’ve shown that I’m stronger in the time trials, so I have no stress at all that I’m not doing the road race. I’ll prepare for the time trial and have a good go at that.
VN: How has it been on the team with all of the big changes? You have the Schleck brothers leaving with some of the core group, but you also have Alberto Contador coming on board…
RP: The Schlecks are fantastic guys, and someone like Jen Voigt…I’ve done a fair bit of racing with him and Stuart O’Grady…they’re special guys. It’s going to be a totally different team next year, but there are the other guys that will stay like Gutsav Larsson and Nicki Sørensen, and they’re guys that you can look up to. So it’s not really going to be a hell of a lot of difference, I guess. It’s still going to be a good team.
VN: What’s your impression of Contador?
RP: I’ve never met him, but he’s shown that he’s the best.
VN: Do you think he could win all three Grand Tours in a year?
RP: Put it this way, I raced against Contador at Paris-Nice this year and that’s a hard, hard race. Apparently, he was at 80 percent of his fitness and he just played with us there. You see him at 80 percent in March, I hate to see what he can do in May at 90 percent for the Giro. I think Contador can do whatever he wants and just win.
VN: You put in a solid ride with fourth overall at the Eneco Tour recently - what will the rest of your season look like?
RP: I’m down for all of the Italian Classics. I’ve had a few easy days and I’ve got good form at the moment, so I’ll have a good build-up to the worlds time trial and then come back to Europe. I think Italian races suit me, so I really hope I can go to the one-day Classics and figure in at least one of them and go for the podium. I don’t think it’s out of the question.
VN: There has been a movement towards cleaning up the sport of cycling. Being that it’s your first year in the ProTour, what are your impressions about that?
RP: The thing is cycling’s just changed so much. When you’re riding in the peloton now, I think riding in the Italian amateurs was harder! [laughs] So you know, I think it’s true [that the sport is cleaning up], it really is.