About Richie

Nationality: Australian

Age: 28

Height: 172cms

Weight: 63kg

Pro Since: 2010

Team: Team Sky

Based: Monaco

Richard “Richie” Porte was born in Launceston, Tasmania in 1985. As a youngster he excelled as a triathlete before switching his attention to cycling at the age of 21. Following two successful seasons racing at amateur level in Europe, Richie signed as a professional with Team Saxo-Bank in 2010.

He made an incredible start to his pro career notching up his first win in the Time Trial stage at the Tour of Romandie in April 2010. This amongst other strong performances gained him selection for the 2010 Giro d’Italia. In what was his first Grand Tour start, Richie won the Best Young Rider accolade and secured 7th position in the overall classification. Remarkably he led the general classification from stages 11-13, experiencing 3 days in the prestigious “Maglia Rosa” race leaders jersey.

In October 2010, Richie narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in the Elite Men’s Time Trial at the UCI Road World Championships, held in the Australian city of Geelong.  His performance yet another indication that he was a rider with a bright future in the sport.

Although 2011 brought less individual success for Richie, he still featured prominently in a number of stages in the Giro, Paris-Nice and Tour of Romandie races. He also won Stage 5 of the Tour of Denmark.

In 2012, Richie signed for Team Sky and was a key member of the team that assisted Sir Bradley Wiggins in his victory at the Tour de France. Currently he remains one of the most exciting emerging talents in professional road cycling.