Porte on Froome: 'Off the bike we're still friends but on the bike we're rivals'
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Riders for BMC Racing rode aboard a WWII military vehicle during the Tour de France team presentation.
Richie Porte (BMC)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Tejay van Garderen (BMC) wins stage 7 of the Tour de Suisse(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Chris Froome, Alberto Contador and Richie Porte at the head of affairs during stage 5 at the Criterium du Dauphine
Tejay van Garderen (BMC) one of the favourites for Tirreno-Adriatico(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
The BMC Racing Team was the first to hold its pre-Tour de France press conference on Friday morning, before heading out for a final training ride on the country roads of the La Manche region for a final taste of the racing conditions. The skies are still grey over northern France with the riders concerned about possible rain and cross winds as they race along the coast and the country lanes.
BMC is one of the so-called super teams of the WorldTour and has serious overall classification goals with Tejay van Garderen and Richie Porte. The two sat side-by-side at the press conference, along with the rest of the team and manager Jim Ochowicz.
Also in the solid squad are the USA’s Brent Bookwalter, Marcus Burghardt, Damiano Caruso, Rohan Dennis, Amaël Moinard, Michael Schar and Alessandro De Marchi. All strong, experienced riders for the three weeks ahead. Four of the riders were in the BMC team that won the Tour de France with Cadel Evans in 2011. Greg van Avermaet is also in the nine-rider squad and will be a protected rider in the opening stages as he clashes with Peter Sagan and targets victory in the sprints and even the yellow jersey.
Porte relishing leadership role
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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
