Third overall, Richie Porte told during the press conference on Monday afternoon about the first week. The Team Sky leader said that he is "ready to get stuck into the second week" and added that he is in "a fantastic position after nine stages".
"Like any rest day it seems like there’s only 23 hours in that day, it always goes way too quickly, and I’m ready now to get stuck into the second week", the Australian rider explained according to Cyclingnews. "Hopefully tomorrow [stage 10] (a flat, straight run which is like to end in a bunch sprint) is straightforward, I’m kind of fearing those sprint stages a bit more than the actual mountain stages, to be honest. We’ve seen they’re a little bit more decisive sometimes."
"But we’ll just get through this next week as best we can, we’re in a fantastic position after nine stages and to be so close to [Fabio] Aru (Astana) and Alberto [Contador, Tinkoff-Saxo] and then also to put time into guys like Rigoberto [Urán, Etixx-Quick Step]. Unfortunately [Domenico] Pozzovivo (AG2R-La Mondiale) has had to go home. I like where we are."
Now, Porte hopes to shine during the second week, but especially this Saturday and the individual time trial. “I’ve seen the time trial course and it’s strange, it’s like two time trials packed into one, so at the same time, the last half of that time trial is climbing, and it does suit them [his rivals] a bit as well. I wouldn’t say the last [climbing part of the tt] is too soft, it’s up and down but I still think the last 29 kilometres are going to be quite hard.”
He has been asking about the Astana strategy. Some people explained that the Kazakh team wanted to tire their rival. "That strategy is a double edged sword. They’re going to be tired as well, they’re only human, yesterday [stage nine] they reduced the group with 90 kilometres to go but then they had nobody really left to pull with. So there’s only so long you can do that for."
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