Twelve months ago Cyclingnews sat down in a hotel on the outskirts of Saint-Etienne for an interview with Richie Porte. Back then he was halfway through his first season at BMC Racing and building up towards his first shot at Tour de France leadership.
Twelve months on, and more through luck than anything else, we found ourselves back at the same hotel as Porte lines up for his second assault on the Tour. In the last 12 months Porte's stock has risen steadily and after impressive GC wins in the Tour Down Under and the Tour de Romandie – along with a stage in Paris-Nice – he is racing the Criterium du Dauphine as part of his final Tour de France build up.
On the eve of stage 2 of the Dauphine Cyclingnews sat down with Porte to talk about how he has moulded the BMC Racing team to fit his needs, his growing stature, if he can cut out the bad days, and whether he can topple Chris Froome this July.
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