During SBS live coverage of stage 9 from the 2015 Tour de France, an interview with Richie Porte was conducted in which he let slip that it would be his last Tour de France riding with Team Sky.
Sky is the team he has been with for a number of years, helping leaders Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome to overall victories at the race.
The only problem of course was that Porte himself wanted to go for a Grand Tour victory. He was allowed to do that at this year’s Giro d’Italia but was massively unlucky suffering misfortune after misfortune.
He eventually pulled out of the race so he could focus on Chris Froome’s second tilt at a Tour de France.
So if indeed Richie Porte does leave Team Sky to chase his own ambitions, where could he end up? Will he be able to leave and chase his own ambitions or will he only ever be a super domestique?
There are really very few teams on the professional circuit that don’t have something they are already working towards and this along with no results and a poor track record of having off days in Grand Tour’s limits Porte’s reach as a potential rider for these teams.
The best of the best options for Porte are as follows.
Orica-GreenEDGE
Orica, according to many reports have been previously interested in Porte and many see it as the best fit for him. An Australian General Classification rider, riding for an Australian team. However could this really happen?
Orica have been recently working on three future prospects for the General Classification in Simon and Adam Yates along with Esteban Chavez.
Should Porte go across he will have three youngsters who are good in the mountains working for him. However, whether Orica want to stent their development as leaders remains to be seen.
The youngsters could however learn a lot from Porte who has been on the winning Tour de France team twice before.
Etixx-Quickstep
Etixx – Quickstep could be an interesting project in the future of Richie Porte. They currently have the likes of Rigoberto Uran who seems to have fallen off the map rather quickly in the last 12 months and of course one of the best sprinters in the world being Mark Cavendish which takes away a lot of the teams resources.
For Porte to go there he may have to fight for limited resources with Uran, or focus on one of the other Grand Tours, being either the Giro or the Vuelta. Still it could be a good acquisition for Quickstep.
Lotto-NLJumbo
Lotto-NLJumbo are one of the weakest teams on the Professional Cycling circuit, without a recognised sprinter or General Classification contender despite a stellar job at the Giro by Steven Kruijswijk. Wilco Kelderman has also been up there on occasion at Grand Tours looking for a high General Classification placing.
Signing someone like Richie Porte would almost seem like the perfect fit for Lotto-NLJumbo, as they also have workers like Laurens Ten Dam and former General Classification hopeful Robert Gesink. Will they make a play for Porte? Probably not as they don’t sign many riders that aren’t from the Netherlands.
Lotto-Soudal
Lotto-Soudal have been left frustrated by their General Classification results ever since Cadel Evans left the team at the end of 2009. Jurgen Van Den Broeck was supposed to be the next big thing in cycling, however has never reached this potential. However, if the team were to sign Porte the likes of Van Den Broeck and Adam Hansen would be brilliant workers and allow Porte to springboard to a high General Classification placing.
The only other problem associated with signing to the Lotto – Soudal squad would be that they look after one of the best sprinters in the world being Andre Greipel who has already won two stages on this year’s Tour de France.
BMC Racing
BMC Racing is also a possibility for Porte. Whilst they have Tejay Van Garderen who has been in stellar form this year, it is the first signs he has shown of truly living up to his potential and he could well be signed for one of the other Grand Tours or to help Van Garderen in his quest for the Tour. Probably not what Porte wants to sign for but given past Grand Tour results his options may be limited.
Trek Factory Racing
Trek’s current project is Bauke Mollema and he hasn’t really shown a lot throughout his career. They could well be looking for a change in their General Classification rider and should be looking no further than Richie Porte.
The team have a successful history with the Schlek brothers and in its former state of CSC, Carols Sastre. Could be an interesting one for Porte.
Cannondale-Garmin
Cannondale-Garmin, the team with so much promise but yet nearly always fail to put results on the table. With the likes of Andrew Talansky, Daniel Martin and Ryder Hesejdal on board you could almost be assured that Porte wouldn’t sign for Cannondale, however if he was promised a leading position those kind of team mates would be a massive positive in an attempt to take out a Grand Tour.
MTN-Qhubeka
MTN have been on the rise in the world of cycling in recent times and Porte could copy what Cadel Evans did a number of years ago and switch to a Continental Pro team. Whilst this doesn’t automatically assure entry to the Grand Tours, having a rider of Porte’s calibre would almost assure they are given a wildcard entry.
The team wouldn’t be able to offer Porte much in terms of support but he would have the undisputed leader’s position, something he clearly wants.
The verdict
So which way is this likely to go? To me Orica look to be the best fit but it is highly doubtful they will send an offer Porte’s way. I doubt Porte would go to MTN despite the guarantee of a leader’s position so I have to say the best options Lotto-NLJumbo or maybe even Cannondale-Garmin if he is promised the leader’s position.
Either way it is an intriguing scenario and it will be interesting to see how everything plays out over the coming months.
What do you think Roarers? Where is Richie Porte off to next year?
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