Richie Porte’s win in the recently completed Volta ao Algarve in Portugal raises the question about who is the likely successor to Cadel Evans as Australia’s figurehead in the sport.
The popularity of highly competitive international sports in this country often relies on the success of a particular individual. Tennis is a great example, when Hewitt was world number one – the entire sport was on a high.
Similarly, golf has suffered from the fact that no one has taken over the super-star role played by Greg Norman.
Therefore as Cadel Evans enters the twilight of his career we must ask ourselves – do we have a ready replacement? The truth is he might not be replaceable. Certainly, winning a Tour de France is a once in a generation event and a high-water mark for the younger Australians to live up to.
Gerrans and Goss of GreenEDGE are world class on their day and Bobridge and Meyers have the potential to become genuine GC contenders when they concentrate more on the road, following the London Olympics. However, we know how important stage race wins are. That is why Porte’s win on the weekend is encouraging.
It is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, his new team Sky gave him the chance to take out the overall victory despite the presence of their number one man Bradley Wiggins in their line-up for the event.
Porte himself commented that such a win would have never been possible in his previous team Saxobank – because all the focus was on Contador and more particularly Contador’s GC chances in the Grand Tours. Smaller stage races were virtually ignored. Sky are proving to be less myopic in their focus.
Secondly, it shows what a well-rounded rider Porte is – he had a stage win (Stage Three – Castro Marim – Malhão which concluded with a category two mountain finish), is strong in the intermediate stages and as we know is a very solid time trialer. As a package Porte has the potential to be a GC contender – exactly what the sport needs at home as it looks to solidify its mass appeal and the gains made in recent years.
Porte’s age (27) and his well-rounded riding mean that he is probably the biggest omission from the inaugural GreenEDGE line-up. No doubt they will seek his signature when his current contract comes to an end. But for Porte himself he seems to have found the right home. A team that is willing to let him take the number-one role in the lesser stage races and one that has the ability to put him in winning positions.
The real question will be – how long will he want to ride for Wiggins in the Grand Tours? Having lead Team Sky since 2010 and with his best Grand Tour results being fourth at the 2009 Tour de France and third in the 2011 Vuelta a España, Wigginns will no doubt feel Porte snapping at his heals.
The truth is that Porte is still relatively inexperienced in the sport and will benefit from a couple more years of riding in a top European team. Hopefully by the time Cadel is ready to exit the sport – Porte will be the main man in a competitive team whether that be GreenEDGE, Sky or some other team.
In the meantime, we should be grateful for the promising crop of young Australians that are coming through the ranks. The pipeline and therefore the future looks bright.
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