Richie Porte (BMC)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Richie Porte (BMC)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Richie Porte (BMC Racing)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Richie Porte gestures as he arrives at the end of the seventh stage of the 74th edition of the Paris-Nice
Richie Porte (BMC)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Richie Porte (BMC Racing) returned to racing with second place in the prologue at the Criterium du Dauphine on Sunday but stressed that the race will not be decided until the final weekend.
The Australian all-rounder last raced at the Tour of Romandie in April but was forced to pull out through illness. On Sunday he returned to competition with second place behind stage winner Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) over the 3.9- kilometre individual time trial course at Les Gets. The Spaniard won by six seconds with Porte’s ex-teammate Chris Froome (Team Sky) in third.
"I know that I lost it in the final 500 meters. I just exploded but overall this is a good sign after having not raced for the better part of a month and a half," Porte told Cyclingnews as he warmed down on the rollers at the top of the climb.
"Now I just need to stay out of trouble. We’ve a really strong team here and it’s the weekend stages where the race will really be won. That’s the plan now. I’ll try and be there for next Saturday."
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
