After playing the role of loyal domestique for most of the 2013 season, Richie Porte will get the chance to lead Sky in next year's Giro d'Italia. The Australian is convinced that he has what it takes to win the Italian grand tour and hopes to follow up one grand tour win with another when he plans to go to the Tour de France to ride in support of Chris Froome.

 

Ever since he finished 7th in his first Giro d'Italia in 2010, Richie Porte has proved that he has the talent to become of the best stage race riders in the world but he had to wait until 2013 before finally revealing the true extent of his potential. In one of cycling's premier stage races, the Paris-Nice, he was simply in a class of his own and won the two key stages on his way to the overall win.

 

He finished 2nd in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco behind Nairo Quintana in the only other stage race where he rode as a team leader. For the remainder of the season, he played the role of loyal domestique to his close friend Chris Froome.

 

However, it is testament to his class that he finished 2nd behind his race-winning teammate in both the Criterium International and the Criterium du Dauphiné and added another top 10 result in the Tour de Romandie. Had it not been for a dramatic stage 9 in the Pyrenees, he may even have joined Froome on the Tour de France podium in Paris.

 

Next year he will get his big chance to lead the world's best team in a major stage race as he will be the designated captain in the Giro d'Italia. After finishing 7th in his only opportunity to ride for the GC in a grand tour three years ago, he is convinced that he can win the race.

 

"It’d be silly to say you can’t [win]," he told Cycling Central. "I think it’s going to be hard to win it, but I’m ready to go into a Grand Tour and lead with a good team around me. That’s the plan. The second week looks pretty hard, and the third week also. It’s going to be a hard race. But it’s the Giro isn’t it?"

 

In the Giro, he will be up against one of his compatriots as Cadel Evans will focus on the Italian grand tour in 2014. The veteran Australian finished 3rd in last year's edition of the race but after another unsuccessful Tour de France has seen himself being written off by several pundits.

 

However, Porte is convinced that Evans can still get back to his best level.

 

"Cadel’s going to be good, he’s going to be up there," he said. "He was third in the Giro this year. People question, is he past his best? I can tell you the Cadel at the world championships that we were going to see before he crashed was the Cadel of old. I don’t think his best years are behind him. Not yet anyway. For sure he’ll be up there. It’s Cadel Evans we’re talking about."

 

After the Giro, Porte plans to return to the Tour de France where he will try to help Froome defend his title. Knowing that two consecutive grand tours is a difficult task, he knows that he faces a great challenge.

 

"I’ve done the Giro-Tour before in 2011, it’s not an easy task," he said. "The Giro is my opportunity. I’m really motivated to go to the Tour and play a similar role as I did this year.. but condition wise we haven’t spoken about the specifics, but I’m sure it’s doable. Other guys have done it with the Tour, Vuelta. Guys have backed up at Grand Tours. I think you can carry the form through, a little bit. It’ll be a challenge."

 

In 2013, Porte had hoped to finish high in the overall standings while doing his job for Froome but it all unravelled on the dramatic stage 9 in the Pyrenees. Repeated attacks on the very first climb on the day put Team Sky on their knees, and Porte had to do a lot of chase work to protect Froome's lead.

 

As a consequence, he lost 17 minutes and lost all personal ambitions in the race. Many have claimed that Porte paid the price for his splendid ride one day earlier when he had finished 2nd behind Froome but the Australian himself sees it as a result of the aggressive riding by their opponents.

 

"You had Valverde attacking who was third on GC at that stage so of course I had to chase," he said. "People can say whatever they want to say about that stage, but they weren’t there, they didn’t see the whole of Garmin attacking, the whole Saxo Bank team attacking. Movistar clearly didn’t want me there in the race. Once they saw that I was dropped, they really rode to make sure that I wasn’t going to come back.

 

"No, not at all," he said when asked if he had a bad day. "I felt exactly the same as the day before. But Garmin was relentless. That’s sport. They won the stage, their plan worked brilliantly. Physically there was nothing wrong with me, but I’m human, and you can only do so much."

 

Many have claimed that Sky was far from the almost unbeatable force it had been in 2012. Porte agrees that the British team wasn't the strongest in this year's race but claims that they have learnt the lesson.

 

"There’s no doubt you need to take a team that’s strong to the Tour if you want a win," he said. "I don’t think we had the strongest team at the Tour this year, we had the strongest rider in Froomey, and I was up there too.. but we lost Kiryienka early, one of the strongest riders in the peloton, and a lot of our guys were tired going into the race. I think the team’s learnt a lot from this year, and next year at the Tour, and I don’t think we’ll make the same mistakes, or have the same weakness."

 

In 2012 and 2013, Porte skipped his big home race, the Tour Down Under. In 2014, he plans to go back to the event and is considering a heavy racing schedule in his home country, with the Australian championships and the Jayco Herald Sun Tour preceding the WorldTour race.

 

“That’s my plan, I really want to do it,” he said. “I find out in December what the calendar will be when I meet up with the team in Europe. But the plan is to be in Adelaide in January.”