Richie Porte stays with Saxo Bank
Richie Porte has announced that he will definitely be riding with Team Saxo Bank in the 2011 season. The Australian, who finished seven seconds off the podium in the World Championships Elite men’s time-trial, had been linked to the new Luxembourg-based
team formed by the Schleck brothers and several support riders and staff members from Saxo Bank, but no deal has been reached.
“No, I will not go to Luxembourg,” said Porte to Procycling.no. “I’ve had a good chat with Bjarne and it becomes an interesting period for Saxo Bank. It is a pity that the Schleck brothers leave the team, because they are some fine people.”
Bjarne Riis had come forward earlier this week in response to the rider’s announcement that he was considering offers from other teams. The Australian signed a two-year contract with Saxo Bank for 2010-2011, his first years as a professional. The team manager
announced that Porte would not be allowed to leave his contract prematurely.
“He has a contract and he will not get out of it. He will not be allowed to go. It's as simple as that, and he knows it, too. I cannot understand why he keeps talking about it,” said Riis to
Sporten.dk. “The problem is that their managers and agents are pushing the riders to their limits and advise their riders wrong. Contracts must be respected.”
Porte likely got the idea from former Saxo Bank rider Fabian Cancellara, four-time World time-trial Champion as of Thursday. The Swiss rider had been in a similar situation as Porte, but Riis had allowed him to buy himself out of his contract with Saxo Bank,
though Cancellara hasn’t yet announced who he will be riding for in 2011.
“It's something else, when you agree,” said Riis. “Richie's manager continues to provoke and try to push us. We have told them that it cannot happen. He cannot be bought off. Yet they continue.
The 25-year-old rider has had a fantastic debut ProTour season, first winning the time-trial in the Tour of Romandie and following that with the best young rider award in the Giro d’Italia in May, which he led for three stages. He has more recently finished
fourth overall in both the Enoco Tour and the Tour of Britian, and matched that again in the time-trial World Championships, 1:19 behind gold-medallist Cancellara.
“It’s not nice to finish fourth, I’m a bit sick of finishing fourth, but it’s such a quality field that I’m honoured to be so close to a podium,” said Porte. “I’m happy with how it went. To be honest I didn’t have a clue as there was no race radio. It’s
a good thing: it puts the human factor back into cycling. Maybe if I knew I could have dug a little deeper, but I gave it my all so I’m pretty happy.”
Having finally accepted that he will be staying with Saxo Bank, the Australian seems content with his first year and his future prospects. Despite the major exodus in the Danish team, with many of the riders moving to Luxembourg and being replaced by Spaniards,
Porte will still have a comfortable place among many familiar faces.
“It will be a solid change of guard, but Bjarne has shown repeatedly that he can build new teams. I think it will be a return to the CSC days, when it was a powerhouse team.”
Riis filled the void left by Grand Tour contender Andy Schleck, twice Tour de France runner-up and three-times best young rider, with triple Tour winner Alberto Contador, who was followed from Astana by a selection of his Spanish support riders. Porte has
stated that he doesn’t know Contador, but has heard he is a “nice guy.” He has criticised the media’s treatment of the recent positive test attributed to the Spaniard, while not making any conclusions of his own.
“I heard [the results of the test] and I also heard that it is inconclusive at the moment,” said Porte. “So it shouldn’t be out there in the media, I guess.”
Tags: