Porte checks in ahead of 2021 racing bow Down Under
Tour Down Under News
Richie Porte
Richie Porte has spoken of his joy at being back at the team he calls home, as he readies himself for his 2021 racing debut in Australia.
Porte officially became an INEOS Grenadier on January 1st, returning to the team after five years away. The popular Australian has been welcomed back with open arms.
"It's all felt like coming home," explained Porte, from his homeland. "In December I went to the medical screenings in Manchester and saw so many familiar faces and the good people behind the scenes. I've ridden with two fantastic teams since I left and have absolutely nothing negative to say about them but Sky was my home and that's now evolved. It's the pinnacle of teams. I always wanted to finish my career by coming back here and it's so exciting, all of it. To be back on a Pinarello as well, it's a great feeling."
Richie will race his new Pinarello DOGMA F12 for the first time on Thursday, in the revamped Santos Festival of Cycling for the Australian national team. The four-day race, running in place of the cancelled Tour Down Under, gives Porte the opportunity to stretch his legs competitively on familiar roads - including Willunga Hill - before his planned return to Europe in February.
Australians stay up until 3am to watch the race and then when we go to the local swimming pool with our son and see people who tell us they watched the whole race… it's an honour, really.
And he has relished being able to train on his home roads in his native Tasmania ahead of the race, made all the more special by the welcome he has received after finishing on the Tour de France podium in September.
"It's always nice to come back to Australia, especially this year after having a good Tour de France. People appreciate what happened at the Tour. I pretty much train on the same roads everyday and I do get quite a few thumbs up and people stop on the side of the road to take a photo of me riding past or shout from their car, so it has been well received.
With very low levels of COVID cases, life has been relatively normal for Porte and his young family back home.
"I had the blessing of the team and my coach Tim [Kerrison] to come back and it's nice to be back on my home roads, doing a good block of training, plus having a normal life. We did two weeks of pretty hard quarantine and Australia has done a really good job of closing the country down. Life is normal here, so it made sense to come back when we had approval."
As well as the race, Porte has another reason to be back on home territory. At the end of the month he will receive the keys to the city of his hometown, Launceston, before packing up and coming back to Europe.
"It's still too early to define my calendar but one of Tirreno or Paris-Nice would be my first race. We will have to see. Hopefully this year is more straightforward. We're all hoping for that this season."
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