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The kit and the bike may have changed but the ambitions within 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Richie Porte remain the same, if not become more acute, as he sits down and greets the press at BMC Racing’s December camp in Denia. He has changed teams in order to give himself the best opportunity of winning a 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France, and while the phrase ‘now or never&rsq🔴uo; might flex on the side of hyperbolic, there’s a touch of truth to it.

During the morning and well before his media session, while his teammates sipped their coffee and limbered from their slumber, Porte was in the꧑ gym enjoying a one-on-one session of core stability work. Bent over backwards, and in a position most would describe as distressingly uncomfortable, Porte managed a quick wave and hello to a couple of journalists before moving back into work.

The early morning class is a measure of dedication one could say but also a realisation within Porte that his move to BMC and ambition of winning the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France can suffer no ꦓd♑istractions. Not even on media day.

“At the end of the day I🌺 knew what I had in Sky, and I was happy there but I’ve been close to coming to BMC before,” a relaxed Porte explains to the press.

“I’m finally here and certainly in the early part of last season, I showed that when I had good form I do need to take my own opportunities. Obviously I’m here and alongside Tejay we can be competitive in the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France.

The question about who will lead the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France team - Porte or Tejay van Garderen - will be irrelevant if both riders replicate their Grand Tour form from 2015 but BMC have placed trust, not to mention funds, in backing their two challengers. Both are similar in stature and style, although there’s no doubting that Porte has won more week-long races, and that van ꧑Garderen is a more proven top-five rider in the Tour.

Their at-times dovetailing race schedules and planned assault on fortress Sky will be one of the most intriguing subplots of 2016 , almost regardless of the outcome, but Porte astutely points out that the two men can lean on each other, dissipating the pressure and even using the media’s insistence o🎐n asking leadership questions as a pillar to bond over.

“It’s good for Tejay to have me in the team but it’s also good 🌸for me to have Tejay,” the A♊ustralian says.

“I don’t have quꦓite the runs on the board in a Grand Tour but I’m 31 next season and I’m not going to retire wondering what I could have done. BMC is that big opportunity for me to have that dedicated team, alongside Tejay, to see what we can do.”

• See also: Van Garderen and Porte see eye to eye on Tour de France - Cyclingnews P🍸odcast
• 168🐬澳洲5最新开奖结果:Dennis and Porte to lead BMC at Tour Down Under
• 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Richie ꦿPorte's BMC ⛦Teammachine SLR01 - Gallery
• 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:BMC Racing secure future beyond 2016

In a recent podcast with Cyclingnews, Porte was asked if he had a point to prove, either to himself or cycling fans. The 30-year-old w𒉰as tipped as a future Grand Tour star after a heroic ride in the Giro d’Italia several🦩 years ago. At Sky he was nurtured further, picking up a litter of week-long stage race titles and helping Froome to his Tour titles.

However, when give𝕴n the chance to lead at the Giro d’Italia this year he succumbed to a number of factors including injury, illness and bad luck. His ambition, plus Team Sky’s attraction to Mikel Landa meant that both parties were c🌳omfortable in moving on amicably.

Yet every now and then Porte’s bristly nature appears. He clearly reads some of the criticism levelled at him – some fair, some perhaps not – and his determination to make his move to BMC a success is clearly there.