Richie Porte is back at the Tour Down Under. Huge posters at the race hotel show him in action from the 2020 race, with the phrase ‘Greatness Returns’.
Porte is back in Adelaide but things have changed. He is not the big favourite for overall victory in 2023. The king of Willunga Hill has abdicated. Porte is retired and even recently described himself as a MAMIL – middle aged man in lycra – on Instagram. He has pulled down the curtain on his 13-year professional career and relocated to Tasmania from Europe with his wife Gemma and young family.
Yet Porte can’t escape his past as a respected rider and Tour Down Under legend.
At the Adelaide Hilton, the race hotel and nerve centre for the Tour Down Under, he is stopped four times as he walks from the lifts to the entrance. Everyone wants to say hello, wish him well for the future and catch his warm smile. Outside the hotel a local fan insisted on a selfie and another, who had travelled from Texas to see the Tour Down Under, quietly but emotionally congratulated Porte on his career.
With no pressure and expectation to perform at the Tour Down Under, Porte could find time for everyone and better understand how people have judged his career, not just on his results, but on how he raced and how he was as a person.
“I didn't really want to be around bike races for a while but I love this race and I love Adelaide. It's been my thing for the last 16 years. My wife is here and it's nice to show the kids what I did during my career,” Porte tells Cyclingnews.
“It’s nice to be able to come to a bike race and enjoy it without the pressure to win it. It’s nice to come as a fan of cycling and just enjoy the atmosphere. It's a brilliant race and fortunately has survived the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the support of the government, sponsors and authorities.”
No dream sign-off at the 2023 Tour Down Under
Richie Porte on the final 2020 Tour Down Under podium (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Porte does not have an official role at the Tour Down Under but he prefers it that way. He is a guest with Shimano and spent time with his former Ineos Grenadiers teammates and long-time friend Chris Froome.
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Retiring after this year’s Tour Down Under, perhaps with a final, emotional win would perhaps have been a perfect end to his career but his family is now his biggest priority.
“It would have been nice to come back, race here with the Ineos Grenadiers and retire here but we’ve recently relocated to Australia from Monaco and the United Kingdom, so it wasn't fair on my wife and family to spend an extra few months training and staying a pro just for a home send off,” Porte says without any regret.
I'm happy to have finished. Signing off at the Tour of Britain perhaps didn't go the way that we would have liked because the race was stopped due to COVID-19 but I’m over that.
“I think once you have children, your priorities change. I’m from Tasmania but I haven't lived there in so long and it’s where we want to be and where we want to raise our children.
“My priorities have changed. I rode my bike two days in a row last week and I was tempted to go for a third ride but my wife reminded me that I had other things to do. I don't need to be fit anymore but I do need to be a husband and a father.”
Looking forwards, not back
(Image credit: Getty Sports)
Porte never managed to win a Grand Tour but he finished third at the 2020 Tour de France when riding for Trek-Segafredo. He won a haul of weeklong stage races, including Paris-Nice twice, the Critérium du Dauphiné, the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and the Tour de Suisse.
At 37 he had nothing else to prove and the rest of his life ahead of him with his young family. What he is ready to do now is to help young riders follow his path and have similarly successful careers in Europe.
“I was lucky to have a great Tour de France with Trek-Segafredo in 2020, and it felt like that ticked a Grand Tour box for me,” Porte explains.
“Then I could go back to Ineos Grenadiers and enjoy my last two years, which I really did by even winning the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2021.
“I had my good and bad moments, my highs and my lows but it was a privilege to ride a bike as a professional for 13 years and to finish on my own terms.”
Cyclingnews will publish a longer feature from the interview with Porte after the Tour Down Under, where he shares further reflections on his career, reveals his plans for life in Tasmania and his role in Australian cycling.
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
