Tour de France: Australian Richie Porte could be Team Sky’s leader if Chris Froome skips race

AUSTRALIAN Richie Porte could be Team Sky’s outright leader in next year’s Tour de France after Chris Froome declared he was no certainty to race.

SKY PRO RACING PRESS CONFERENCE, Porto-Vecchio, Corsica. Australian Richie Porte during the press conference

AUSTRALIAN Richie Porte could be Team Sky’s outright leader in next year’s Tour de France after Chris Froome declared he was no certainty to start the mountainous 102nd edition of the race.

Porte was forced to step up in Froome’s absence midway through this year’s Tour when Froome crashed out on a chaotic cobbled stage which began in Belgium.

The Tasmanian fought on bravely but felt the effects of an interrupted preparation due to illness during the third week as Italian Vincenzo Nibali rode to victory and Porte finished 23rd.

Now the return of cobblestones, more climbs and less time trial mileage has prompted Froome — who won the yellow jersey in 2013 — to consider targeting the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana instead.

The course for the 2015 Tour de France was unveiled on Wednesday night and includes seven mountain stages — of which five finish at altitude — one team and one individual time trial.

“The team and I will have to give it some careful consideration before we make any commitments to which of the grand tours I will compete in,” Froome said.

Mark Cavendish (L) chats to Marcel Kittel of Germany (R) at the 2015 Tour de France route presentation.

“I see myself as quite a balanced (general classification) rider and the Giro with it’s inclusion of a long TT of 60km and tough uphill finishes will make it a well balanced race which suits me well.

“If I did the Giro I may also be able to get myself back to top shape for the Vuelta and go there with a realistic chance of aiming for the win.

“In the past I’ve only targeted one grand tour each season but it could be a good opportunity for me to focus seriously on two. It’s still early days though and we’ll have to sit down and put our heads together as a team to work out what 2015 is going to look like for us.”

Uncertainty over Froome’s participation in the race means Porte would be in contention to lead Sky along with recruit Leopold Konig, who finished seventh in this year’s Tour, Nicholas Roche, who has twice been top 10 at the Vuelta, and Mikel Nieve.

Cadel Evans at the 2015 Tour de France route presentation on Wednesday.

Australia’s only Tour de France champion Cadel Evans was at the 2015 course presentation and said the yellow jersey would be decided in hilltop finishes in the second half of the race and not by the limited time trial stages.

“It’s a Tour with not very much time trialling at all, the mountains nearly all fall in the second half with hilltop finishes, it’s going to come down to those finishes there,” Evans said.

“When you’re not racing your perspective changes, now I look at the Tour for interesting stages to visit myself for the pleasure of riding them — not for course reconassiance as I would have done in past years.”

Having announced that he will retire in February next year, Evans’ final races as a professional cyclist with BMC will include the Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide in January.

He is also expected to start the national championships, which Cycling Australia on Thursday confirmed would be held in Ballarat from January 7-11.

Originally published as Tour de France: Australian Richie Porte could be Team Sky’s leader if Chris Froome skips race