Richie Porte says he has fully recovered from the illness tat forced him to abandon the Tour de Romandie and is ready to perform just as well at the Dauphine as he did in Paris-Nice and Catalunya.

"My form is starting to come together and it's been building nicely over the last few weeks," he told Cyclingnews ."I've obviously had a slower start to the season but that was always part of the plan, but at Paris-Nice, and Catalunya, things went well enough given the form that I had. I've built up a really solid base and moved on from there.”

"I got a bit sick but that's just one those things that can happen in the first part of the year. In hindsight it was actually pretty good because it gave me a month at home and gave me a strong training routine. I'm happy with where I'm at."

Despite performing solidly in the prologue at the French race, Porte says BMC really want a stage win, and then Porte can challenge for the GC if he is still in contention. For Porte, it is a golden opportunity to test himself against a lot of Tour contenders just one month from the big rendezvous.

"The team's expectations are to go the Dauphine and target a stage. The goal posts might widen a bit more once we get to the race but I'm just looking forward to going there and testing myself against some of the big Tour favourites. It'll give me a chance to see where I'm at this stage.”

Porte also says the short stages are explosive and that suits him well. The longest stage is just 182km and all three of the final mountain stages are under 150km in length.