Australian Richie Porte has told selector Bradley McGee that he will not be in any shape to take the start line of the 2014 World Road Race Championships in Ponferrada, Spain later this month. With that, he has ended his 2014 season.

"I haven't had the best of health this year," said Porte. "I've been in Manchester the last week speaking with the doctors and we've found that during the Tour I had a mild case of pneumonia.”

"I'm not going to beat myself up too much, I had a year like this three seasons ago, and I've had some good ones since.”

"You have to have a bad year every now and then, just to put it all in perspective, but to be honest I'm pretty happy to draw a line through the year and move on."

Porte has shown signs of his 2013 form this year but ultimately, 2014 will be a year he would wish to forget and he is now building towards 2015.

"For me it's the end of the year now, and hopefully I can have a better season next year."

Porte first fell ill at Tirreno-Adriatico and never really got well enough to compete in the Tour de France and illness robbed him of his chance to lead Sky in the Giro d’Italia.

His only win this year came on Stage 5 of the Tour Down Under from McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill.