Richie Porte · Biography

In 2010 Richard Julian Porte, born on 30 January 1985 in Launceston, Tasmania, made his top-tier debut with Team Saxo Bank, and in his first Grand Tour he wore the pink jersey of the Giro d’Italia. A climber with a strong time trial, the Australian went on to ride for Team Sky, BMC Racing Team, Trek–Segafredo and Ineos Grenadiers before retiring in 2022. His best result in a three-week race was third place at the 2020 Tour de France.

From the pool to Italian roads

Porte was educated at St Patrick’s College in Launceston and first competed as a swimmer. He switched to triathlon in 2003 and only committed fully to cycling in 2006, at 21. To learn the trade he moved to Italy, racing as an amateur for AC Sammarinese–Gruppo Lupi in 2007, Mastromarco Sensi Grassi in 2008 and Bedogni–Grassi–Natalini in 2009. In those last two seasons he combined the Italian calendar with Praties, a Tasmanian Continental team. In 2009 he finished third in the Australian time trial championship, the result that opened the door to a professional contract.

Saxo Bank and the 2010 Giro

Porte arrived at the 2010 Giro d’Italia with Saxo Bank as a support rider rather than a leader. A large breakaway in the second week lifted him to the top of the standings, and he wore the maglia rosa from stage 11 to stage 13. He finished seventh overall and won the young rider classification by 7 minutes 29 seconds over Croatia’s Robert Kišerlovski. A year later he made his Tour de France debut, finishing 72nd after a race spent working for his leaders.

Team Sky: domestique and stage-race winner

In 2012 he joined Team Sky, where he spent four seasons. That year he won the Volta ao Algarve. In 2013 he took Paris–Nice, then served as one of Chris Froome’s last mountain helpers at the Tour, finishing 19th himself. That autumn he won bronze in the team time trial at the World Championships. His fullest season with the British team came in 2015: Australian time trial champion, a second Paris–Nice, the Volta a Catalunya and the Giro del Trentino. He started the Giro d’Italia as leader, but on stage 10 he took a wheel from a rider on another team after a puncture and was penalised two minutes and fined 200 Swiss francs. A crash on stage 13 cost him more time and, after losing 27 minutes to Alberto Contador on stage 15, he abandoned with a leg injury.

BMC: Willunga, Romandie, Switzerland and two Tour crashes

From 2016 to 2018 he led BMC Racing Team. In 2016 he finished fifth at the Tour de France; at the Rio Olympics he crashed on the final descent of the road race and fractured his right shoulder blade, which ruled him out of the time trial and the rest of the season. In 2017 he won the Tour Down Under and the Tour de Romandie, but on stage 9 of the Tour he crashed descending the Mont du Chat and broke his collarbone and pelvis. In 2018 he won the Tour de Suisse and the Tour’s team time trial with BMC, only for a stage 9 crash and a collarbone injury to force him out again. Across those years he won the Willunga Hill stage of the Tour Down Under six years in a row, from 2014 to 2019.

Trek–Segafredo and the Paris podium

In 2019 he moved to Trek–Segafredo and placed 11th at the Tour de France. In January 2020 he won his second Tour Down Under, 48 seconds ahead of Esteban Chaves, although Matthew Holmes beat him on Willunga Hill that year. In September came the result of his career: in the 36.2-kilometre time trial finishing on La Planche des Belles Filles, the Tour’s penultimate stage, he was third on the day and climbed to third overall. In Paris he stood on the third step of the 2020 Tour de France podium, behind Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič.

Ineos Grenadiers and retirement

In 2021 he returned to the British outfit, by then renamed Ineos Grenadiers. In June he won the Critérium du Dauphiné, and that year he was named Australian Cyclist of the Year. At the 2021 Tour, which he announced as his last, he finished 38th. In 2022 he placed fourth at Tirreno–Adriatico and ended his career at the Tour of Britain in September 2022, after fifteen seasons of racing that began in 2008. In 2023 he moved back to Tasmania.