With strong performances in the Australian time trial, Richie Porte is the favourite for the Tour Down Under after he won the queen stage to Willunga Hill in 2014. Orica DS Matt White called him “the strongest rider in the world” recently. Porte himself is staying calm but says his form is good.

"I'm feeling pretty good now but I guess I don’t really know how my exact form is because Nationals was a bit of a weird race. There's climbing and it's hard but a lot of the big favourites, the climbers, were watching each other while the sprinters were contesting the race," he tells Cyclingnews.

"Obviously with the time trial I was really pleased with my ride. I've not done a time trial on a course like that for a long time but I've done a lot of work on my position over the last few months and I'm much happier now with my position so I felt like I got a lot more power out on the course. It meant a lot to win against just a quality field of course."

As for his rivals, he doesn’t know how any of the Europeans are in terms of form, as they haven’t raced in 2015 so far.

"No one knows because you get an idea of how strong the Australian field is from Nationals but then the European guys come in. Look at someone like Tom Dumoulin for example. He could go for the bonus sprints and guys like him could be a real surprise. Cadel is obviously motivated and he was good in this race last year. I know I'm in good shape and I'm really motivated for this year. I just want to get going and have a big Tour Down Under. If that makes me the favourite, I don’t know. It doesn't change much and you've still got to have that little bit of luck as well."

Porte was delighted when he heard what Matt White had to say about him too, saying that after his poor 2014, anything nice in 2015 is pleasing for him.

"That’s nice of Matt to say and I'm really happy with where I'm at. Last year was a total disaster but it’s been good for me to go home, train and enjoy to ride my bike again. If that makes me the strongest rider then 'm happy to hear him say those things. It doesn't give me any pressure and I’ll take the race as it comes. Orica don't have Gerrans here but they have Impey and Meyer here and they both look fit."