Porte confident of Tour de France chance

Richie Porte is full of confidence that despite missing out on the Giro d’Italia where he was supposed to lead the British Sky team, he will still be given the chance to race for the overall top place in the Tour de France while also aiding his team mate Chris Froome as he tries to defend his title.

It was only announced as late as Monday the team’s decision to scratch Porte from the team for the Italian Grand Tour which is scheduled between May 9th and June 1st but there were obvious doubts whether he would race on the Tour after pulling out of the Tirreno-Adriatco as well as the Volta a Catalunya in Spain due to his troubles from gastroenteritis.

And although he was disappointed not to be a part of the team for the Italian Grand Tour, he now focusing all his attention on getting back on the saddle for the Tour de France which takes place between the 5th and 27th of July rather than chancing his luck on tackling both the Giro and the Tour as he had initially planned to do. He is also fitting in a downhill mountain bike holiday.

Speaking to the media, Porte stated that now he can prepare for the Tour the best possible way and he thinks missing the Giro d’Italia could well be a blessing in disguise for him.

He admitted that he lost three weeks of training or, to put it in other words, three weeks where he could have trained hard and that is not a good thing to do when there is an event that has been marked out from the beginning of the year.

But he said that they will have a great team for the Tour de France which will be stronger than last year and he believes it will compete for the top prize just like last year.