Richie Porte ready for lottery of Olympics road race

LE SAPPEYENCHARTREUSE FRANCE JUNE 04 Richie Porte of Australia and Team INEOS Grenadiers at arrival during the 73rd Critrium du Dauphin 2021 Stage 6 a 1672km stage from LoriolsurDrome to Le SappeyenChartreuse 1003m UCIworldtour Dauphin dauphine on June 04 2021 in Le SappeyenChartreuse France Photo by Bas CzerwinskiGetty Images
Richie Porte (Ineos Grenadiers) at the Criterium du Dauphine (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Richie Porte will spearhead a strong Australian men's team in the Olympic Games road race on Sunday with the Ineos Grenadiers rider hoping for far better luck than he had five years ago.

In Rio in 2016 Porte was one of the leading riders in the grueling road race but a devastating crash on the final descent took him out of the event and saw him leave in ambulance. He was later diagnosed with a fractured right scapula and didn't race again that calendar year.

Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.