Richie Porte

Richard Julian Porte (born 30 January 1985) is an Australian former professional road bicycle racer who competed as a professional from 2008 to 2022.

Porte was born in Launceston, Tasmania in 1985.

He was educated at St Patrick's College, Launceston.

A sports award at their Croagh Patrick campus is named in his honour and awarded to the best athlete in Year 9 annually.

When he rides it is not uncommon to see Porte wear a necklace of Tasmania, a homage to his home state.

After spending many years living in Europe, in 2023 Porte returned to live in Tasmania after his retirement from professional cycling.

He comes from a triathlon background, having competed in the sport since 2003.

Prior to that he was a competitive swimmer.

Porte started dedicated cycling in 2006 when he was 21 years of age.

Porte rode for UniSA–Australia at the 2008 Tour Down Under and finished ninth overall.

He raced with a Tasmanian UCI Continental team,, in 2008 and 2009, taking fifth place in the 2008 Herald Sun Tour and winning the Tours of Perth and Tasmania.

Porte rose and under the eye of Andrea Tafi on the Monsummanese Grassi Mapei amateur Italian team in 2009, finishing tenth at the 2009 Tour de Langkawi.

His performance at the 2009 Baby Giro, where he won the individual time trial, brought him to the attention of the professional teams.

At the end of the 2009 season, he signed a two-year contract with.

His coach at Team Saxo Bank was compatriot Bradley McGee.

In April, Porte went on to win the stage 4 time trial at the Tour de Romandie, finishing in tenth place overall.

In May he made his Grand Tour debut in the Giro d'Italia where he finished seventh overall and won the young rider classification, by a margin of 7' 29" over Robert Kišerlovski, cementing his place as a rider for the future. He also led the race during stages 11 to 13 and thus wore the pink jersey. In July Porte placed tenth in the Clásica de San Sebastián and had a further run of strong performances; second in the stage 5 time trial of the Post Danmark Rundt, fourth overall at the Eneco Tour and fourth overall at the Tour of Britain. Porte narrowly missed out on the bronze medal in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships, held in the Australian city of Geelong; he finished in fourth place, six and a half seconds down on third-place finisher, Germany's Tony Martin.

In Grand Tours, he won the young rider classification at the 2010 Giro d'Italia, his first year at UCI ProTour level, and finished on the podium of the 2020 Tour de France, but was also frequently hit by illnesses and injuries.

Although the 2011 season brought less individual success for Porte, through the expectation that he would become a key domestique for Alberto Contador in his overall victory in the Giro d'Italia, Porte continued his strong time trial performances; placing third in Paris–Nice and eighth at the Tour of the Basque Country.

Porte then won the fourth stage at Vuelta a Castilla y León by virtue of Contador's disqualification.

Porte then placed third in the final stage time trial at the Giro d'Italia, and fourth in the final stage time trial at the Tour de France.

Porte then went on to win fifth stage time trial at the Post Danmark Rundt, in Helsingør, by a margin of 10 seconds over teammate, Gustav Larsson.

Porte then finished his season with sixth position in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships.

Porte joined ahead of the 2012 season.

In January 2012, he competed in his national championships in Buninyong and Learmonth, where he finished third in the road race, and placed fifth in the time trial several days later.

In February 2012, Porte took the lead of the Volta ao Algarve after winning the race's queen stage, the summit finish at the Alto do Malhão in Loulé.

He held the lead until the end of the race, eventually finishing 37 seconds clear of defending race winner, Tony Martin.

Porte then worked for Bradley Wiggins in Paris–Nice, helping his leader win the race overall.

Porte was a key member of the Sky teams that helped Wiggins go on to win the Tour de Romandie, the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France.

Porte then rode the Vuelta a España in support of Chris Froome, and took second place on stage 20.

In the absence of Wiggins and Froome, Porte was selected to lead at Paris–Nice.

He won the fifth stage of the race – the queen stage – with an attack on La Montagne de Lure to take the lead of the race, from 's Andrew Talansky.

Porte also won the final time trial on the Col d'Èze by 23 seconds over Talansky to seal overall victory by 55 seconds.

Porte's time was only four seconds short of the course record, set by Wiggins the previous year.

Porte's good form continued into the Critérium International, winning the second stage's time trial.

A second-place finish on the final mountain stage was not enough to prevent stage winner and teammate Chris Froome from winning the general classification, but did secure Porte the points classification, and second place overall.

Porte was again given the lead of for the Tour of the Basque Country.

Porte powered away in the final kilometres of stage five from a small group of elite riders, including race leader and teammate Sergio Henao, to claim the stage.

In the sixth and final stage, an individual time trial, Porte could not match Nairo Quintana over the undulating parcours, but managed to rise to second place in the general classification, ahead of Henao.

His successes include wins at 8 World Tour stage races: Paris–Nice in 2013 and 2015, the Volta a Catalunya in 2015, the Tour de Romandie in 2017, the Tour Down Under in 2017 and 2020, the Tour de Suisse in 2018 and the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2021.