On the Froome / Bud scale?

enough for hard times.

Not in the slightest, is someone saying he is?

He doesn’t sound very Aussie and I’m assuming he’s not a native Australian .So I’m guessing his family originate from these Isles.

Well he’s presumably descended from British criminals so I guess that puts him ahead of Froome and Wiggo.

Anyway, who cares really about nationality? I just want to see a good race and this one is shaping up nicely. I wish G hadn’t come down though – even if he is “only” Welsh.

He’s Tasmanian not sure if that’s like being Welsh or Scottish and called English 😕

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Porte
Aussie.

Is it important?

Still gutted Froome is out – watching today’s stage I just wish he was there on Contador’s wheel.

I wouldnt worry about Bertie, no way will he win the tour. Enjoyed watching Nibali staring into the back of his head as if to say – is that it?

Almost as if Nibbles was saying, “What’s the beef, Bertie?”

Since they made Bertie a veggie, his powers have seriously waned.

As much as I’d like to see him put up a fight, I think Nibali will struggle against Contador in the Mountains.

Porte wasn’t making it look easy today either…he had his full Cadel Evans pose going on.

I reckon Contador is a decent bet for GC without Froome.

Bertie will make time in the time trial, and he’ll attack and attack and attack in the mountains. is Nibali strong enough? Only time will tell

bertie will make time in the time trial

Disagree he”d previously been living off his beef assisted climbing and TTing , and has been found out in the last couple of years.

CountZero – Member
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Porte
Aussie. Tasmanian

There is a difference 😉

There is a cautious optimism/hope over here in Oz (and his home town) more in a would be great if he won sort of a way.

The thing not going for him is Froome/Wiggins had him as a backup, the Sky line up is a little too thin for attacking/dominating so if he wants it he needs to nip away and get some luck.

There is also a lot of luck floating round this tour and not much of it good.

How British is Richie Porte?

He isn’t, but unlike Froome, he isn’t pretending to be either.

Oi! Nothing wrong with being a Kenyan born Brit. 😉

Depends on whether he wins dunner it.

Britain loves to pull in athletes from all over the world and stick a “Made in the UK” badge on them (reading the smallprint you would find “prepared and packed in the UK, original source may vary” caveat).

Look at athletics; Tiffany Porter, Michael Bingham, Shara Proctor, Ese Okoro… it’s the only way we can produce world class teams in certain sports!

Have I missed something , have sky been pretending to be an all British team.

If Billy Vunipola can play for England I just wanted to claim Porte as one of ours even if he didn’t realise it.

Yeah not sure where this all started? He is certainly all Australian/Tasmania on the local broadcasters but Phil & Paul seem to have latched onto him a bit too (we get their commentary too)

A bit about developing British talent and Dave Brailsford

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jul/11/team-sky-dave-brailsford-british-cyclists-tour-de-france

and if you read a bit further down the Aussie who signs the cheques might be quite happy with the direction of the team 🙂

Enjoyed watching Nibali staring into the back of his head as if to say – is that it?

right up until Bertie actually accelerated and, despite chewing his bars, Nibali couldnt respond and lost 3 seconds in just 50 metres, you mean?

I wish G hadn’t come down though

he got taken out by Talansky, though I’m sure Garmin will have a different take on it…

If bertie had got going and put 50s in then it might be different but 3s is nothing. So long as nibali and porte could see him not much was lost. Wait for Mondays stage and we will know a lot more.

but bertie now has the idea that on steep ramps he can put distance into Nibali. It was fascinating watching Nibali staring at Bertie (did he even blink?!) and hugging his wheel, but I got the impression Bertie was doing it to assess Nibali’s strength for future steeps, rather than take meaningful time out of him. He put a few exploratory jabs in and got 3 seconds as a secondary bonus.

All adds up to the potential for a great race rather than a dull procession. I’m rooting for Nibali but I also like Contador for his snake-hipped near weightless climbing prowess and his guile (attacking on descents or flat transitional stages and catching people napping) and I’d like to see plain-talking Porte rise to the challenge, mix it and get on the podium.

I’ll be watching Monday live from start to finish 🙂

This is Richie’s national flag so I reckon that means about a quarter british, or 25%?

Bertie will go bat shit crazy early in a stage with lots of climbs, bit like today, but not today, in the second / third week. Just watch. For reference look at the 2012 Vuelta, think it was stage 15. Ambushed Rodriguez et al to take the race! It’s a better race without the snooze train.

Ask Phil Ligget. He called Cavendish English on the first stage commentary, the daft old coot *

*hope this doesn’t count as swear filter avoidance

The implication of the above is that being a Manxman means he come from a different country. Is that really so?

It means he’s not ENGLISH. You could reasonably say he was BRITISH, but it appears Liggett didnt say that.

Cav was born in Harrogate, so he’s more English than Froome, and me.

I have to wonder why the OQ was asked? I guess you are new to this road cycling fandom and understanding how cycling teams work? They are not national teams you know.

Born in Douglas according to Wikipedia. I though it was his mum that was from Harrogate. Cav that is.

My mistake then. Seem to recall the Tour commentary talking about him being brought up in Harrogate, but given how wildly inaccurate most of their facts are I should have checked!