Geraint Thomas has spoken to Cyclingnews about what it will be like seeing Richie Porte line up for BMC rather than Team Sky at the Tour Down Under.

"It will be strange now. He’ll be shouting at us now rather than BMC," Thomas said of Porte. "He used to love that going up a climb. It will be strange as like you say, we've ridden together for a few good years now and we are good mates. I hope he does really well and comes second behind us."

With Thomas turning his attention to stage races, he may be facing off against Porte quite regularly if they have regular races together.

"I think we have a similar programme so it’s going to be an interesting year but exciting. He’s gone off to get a bit more of his freedom now and Tour is something he wants to do really well in. I’d love to see him do well and for me it’s a similar sort of story as well I guess," he said, adding, "last year I had a really good Tour and that sort of really opened my eyes as to what I can do there in the future."