Richie Porte will bring his most successful season to a close when he lines up in the five-day Tour of Beijing on Friday. At the end of the long season, the Australian admits to be tired but hopes to surprise himself in the Chinese race.
Richie Porte has long been known as a big talent for the future but few would have imagined the Australian to take the kind of results he has done during the 2013 season. He now hopes to brings things to a successful close when the lines up at the final WorldTour race Tour of Beijing on Friday.
Porte's successful campaign started when he won two stages at the overall in Paris-Nice and from there, he has just continued clocking up results. He was 2nd in the Criterium International, Vuelta al Pais Vasco and Criterum du Dauphiné and 8th in the Tour de Romandie before going on to play a fantastic support role for Chris Froome at the Tour de France.
His autumn season has been way more quiet and he most recently crashed out of the world championships. Next year he will lead Sky at the Giro but before then, he hopes for a successful showing in Beijing.
However, he admits to be fatigued at the end of what has been a long season but hopes to surprise himself on a course that is set to be decided by Monday's first ever summit finish.
“The team’s got pressure on me but it’s been a long season,” he admitted. “I’m pretty honest with where I am with them but we’ll see what happens. I’ve heard that the climb’s not terribly hard so if that’s the case…
"For the end of season I don’t think that my shape’s too bad. I’ll take it as it comes.”
Porte will be formidably supported by climber David Lopez who recently finished 4th in the Tour of Britain while working for overall winner Bradley Wiggins. Similarly, young neo-pros Josh Edmondson, Joe Dombrowski and Ian Boswell are expected to shine on the climbs while Mathew Hayman and Bernhard Eisel are the team's rider for the flat stages in what will be the former's final race as a Sky rider before joining Orica-GreenEDGE for next season.
“Lopez is in quite good form,” Porte said. “Bernie [Eisel] and Hayman are always in good condition. Josh Edmondson, our young neo pro – to be honest he’s probably the most underrated neo pro this year. He’s been absolutely brilliant. In the future he’s going to be a big rider.”
The Tour of Beijing kicks off on Friday with a flat stage.
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