Aussie Richie Porte to race in Tirreno-Adriatico after Chris Froome pulls out with bad back

AUSTRALIAN Richie Porte will replace Chris Froome at the Tirreno-Adriatico race after the British Tour de France winner pulled out.

Filling in ... Australian Team Sky rider Richie Porte.

AUSTRALIAN Richie Porte will replace Chris Froome on the Sky team at next week’s Tirreno-Adriatico week-long stage race in Italy after the British Tour de France winner pulled out.

But that move was met by anger from Paris-Nice organisers, Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) as Porte had been due to begin the defence of his ‘Race to the Sun’ title on Sunday.

Froome is suffering from a back complaint and hasn’t raced since winning February’s Tour of Oman.

Sky’s decision to shift Porte from the Paris-Nice race, which has no individual time-trial or tough mountain finishes, to the Tirreno-Adriatico that more suits his capabilities with two time-trials (one team and one individual) and two summit finishes, was met with anger from ASO, the company that runs the Tour de France.

“We find it cavalier to have the reigning (Paris-Nice) champion pull out just before the start,” said Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.

“We were told that to win points for the world rankings, the Tirreno was more favourable (to Porte) due to its technical characteristics and the presence of an (individual) time-trial.

“We stick by the Paris-Nice route, without a time-trial for the first time since 1955 and without a long enough summit finish. Everything was done so that the race could be fought for everywhere, just as much on the flats as in the more hilly stages.”

“We wanted to move away from stereotypes and we’re going to continue on this path. Bearing in mind it’s the riders who decide, we’ll keep proposing more open courses. I’m convinced it will be a magnificent race.”

Sky won the last two editions of the Paris-Nice through Bradley Wiggins in 2013 and then Porte last year.

Froome finished second to Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali, who is racing the Paris-Nice this year, in last year’s Tirreno-Adriatico.