Tassie cycling star Richie Porte targeted by spectators

TASMANIAN cycling star Richie Porte is furious at being punched in the face by a spectator at the Tour de France.

Tasmanian cycling star Richie Porte leads out Team Sky during stage 14 of the Tour de France, a 178km ride from Rodez to Mende. Porte was punched by a spectator with 3km to go in the stage while his teammate, race leader Chris Froome, had a cup of urine thrown over him as anti-Sky sentiment boiled over. Picture: GETTY

TASMANIAN cycling star Richie Porte is furious at being punched in the face by a spectator at the Tour de France, while his Sky teammate and race leader Chris Froome was covered in urine.

Porte was punched near the end of stage 14, as well as being spat on and booed.

The attack prompted French police to escort Porte and Team Sky to the start line for Stage 15 last night.

The 30-year-old Tasmanian revealed the punch on a European cycling website after the 178.5km stage between Rodez to Mende in the South of France. “I was punched in the last three kilometres. I got a full-on punch,” Porte said.

Porte believes the incident was the result of an anti-Sky atmosphere created by some cycling journalists questioning the team’s drug-free status, after it had dominated the first two weeks of the world’s greatest cycling event.

“They are so anti-whatever we are. Do I deserve to be booed? Does Chris Froome deserve all this? I don’t think so,” Porte said. “Maybe in 10 years’ time they’re going to see that these victories are legitimate. It’s a disgrace how some of these people carry on.”

French rider Sebastian Langeveld tweeted his support for Porte: “Today I saw a spectator spit on @richie_porte very disrespectful those guys don’t deserve this at all! Please stop, or stay at home,” he said.

Froome, who trained with Porte in Tasmania in December and stayed at his parents’ home, held a commanding lead in the Tour after 14 of 21 stages.

The yellow jersey wearer also voiced his disappointment yesterday.

“Obviously a bit of a dampener for me, a spectator about 50-60 kilometres into the race threw a cup of urine over me, shouting ‘dope’,” Froome said. “It’s unacceptable on so many levels.

“We’re professionals, we work really hard for what we do and for someone to come and do that, it’s not what we’re here for.”

Porte’s parents Ian and Penny, of Launceston, preferred not to comment yesterday..