Dave Brailsford has told the media that this is a golden opportunity to prove to the cycling world that he can win a Grand Tour and last the three weeks at the Giro d’Italia.

“Every race is a test, [but] not that many people can go to a Grand Tour and say I genuinely have a chance of winning this. And he has,” Brailsford told a small group of reporters.

“In three weeks' time, we'll know whether it worked out or not, but as you've seen with the [general election in the UK] polls” - forecast to end in hung parliament and in fact won by the Conservative Party - "it's pretty pointless to predict anything.”

“It is a big moment for him, he's 30 years old, he's had a great career, and I do believe he's a Grand Tour rider. if he can keep his health and keep his form form, we’ll see what he can do in three weeks time. It’s a great opportunity.”

Many say Porte has a habit of having one “off day” at each Grand Tour that causes him to lose minutes at a time and force him out of GC contention.

“People say that, but if you get sick or ill, then that's something. If you sit back and look what happened in other races, then I don't buy the suggestion that he has a lack of consistency. There's been genuine reasons for it rather than some unknown sort of aberration. Personally, I think he has what it takes.”

Brailsford says that with the amount of confidence that Porte has, he can achieve great things at the race for Team Sky, who won the first road stage today through Elia Viviani.

“You start to think how to win the race rather than if you will still be in contention. It's more of a mindset things then anything else. We saw it with Froome, we saw it with Bradley, and hopefully we'll see it with Richie. He couldn't be any more ready to have a crack at this, put it that way.”