Richie Porte is confident that he will return to his winning ways in 2015 as he goes into the year a lot "hungrier" after a season to forget, with the Tour de France ending as " nightmare" for him. The Australian Sky rider has already reached an advanced state of form and claims to be "seven kilos lighter" than he was at this time last year.

After finishing his season early, Richie Porte has taken his time to recover from the many health issues that plagued him in 2014. Now visibly rested and very motivated, he faces his winter training with the aim of returning to his best in his his fourth season at Sku.

Sickness forced him to skip his main goal of the Giro d'Italia and made him abandon Tirreno-Adriatico, Volta a Catalunya and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. In the Tour de Fra nce, he was unable to pick up the baton when Chris Froome crashed out of the race as illness again hit him at a point when he was second in the overall standings.

“Probably the only good thing about having a bad year is that it does make you hungrier,” he told TeamSky.com. “It was a rough season. It started well and I was where I needed to be in January and February, but I got sick a few times which meant I didn’t had the most straightforward year. In October I came off a month of antibiotics and I feel much, much better.

Porte is clearly a reborn rider. He is ready for the hard training that awaits him.

“I’m coming into this period seven kilos lighter than I was at this time last year. I’m definitely ready to go and ready to really step it up. I’d love to have a big year," said the Australian who divides his time between Monaco and Tasmania.

“I was in Europe in October and got into a good routine,” he explained. “I’ve been doing a lot of gym work and a lot of swimming and walking. The weather was great in Monaco so I loved being out on the bike. It was all quite inspiring.

“This off-season I finished earlier, so I’ve had to start again earlier. I’ve been rolling home via the Col de la Madone, which is probably the most famous climb where I’m based. I really enjoy doing that and during the season Froomey and I often train together and go over La Madone.

“Now I’m back in Tasmania. It’s something I’d really been looking forward to. The government has just spent a lot of money on mountain bike trails which is also great in the off-season. I’m healthy and it’s good to be fit going into a big block of winter training.”

Porte has regained motivation for several reasons.

“Together with the team we’ve done some great work on the time trial bike and I feel much more comfortable now. I feel really happy with where we’re at. Little things like that will all help. I’ve got a great new girlfriend and it’s nice to build up to a new year in a different frame of mind," he says.

Porte had one of his biggest disappointments at the Tour de France.

“Obviously the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that the Tour is hard enough as it is without throwing in some sickness. It was a disaster when Chris went home but the form I had going into the Tour was quite good.

"I got through the rough stuff - which was basically the first 12 stages - sitting second on GC. That was the dream as it's always been my ambition to finish on the podium in the Tour, but then it turned into a nightmare. Obviously I think about it as a missed opportunity, but you’ve got to get on with it.”

Now he looks ahead to the future after a 2014 season that was bad for the entire team.

“We had two years of massive success. It’s almost like we needed to have this year. But we’ve also had a lot of bad luck – with Geraint (Thomas) at Paris-Nice, Sergio (Henao’s) crash, myself, Yogi (Ian Stannard) and Froomey. It hasn’t been a straightforward year. I guess it’s hard to measure luck, but we’ve had our fair share of bad. It just makes everyone doubly determined to have a great season next year.”

Porte went into2014 with big ambitions and was set the be Sky leader at the Giro d'Italia and got the season off to a solid start when he was third at the Nationals, won the queen stage to Willunga in the Tour Down Under and finished fourth behind Simon Gerrans, Cadel Evans and Diego Ulissi. Back in Europe, he was second behind Alejandro Valverde in the Vuelta a Andalucia.

Later he abandoned Tirreno-Adriatico, Volta a Catalunya - where he only did one stage - Liege and Romandie. He seemed to find his best legs after a training camp on Mount Teide, was 22nd in the Criterium du Dauphine and excelled at the start of the Tour de France. In the end, however, pneumonia caused him to slip down in the overall standings and he ended the race in 23rd. On Ausgust 31, he did is last race at the GP Plouay after just 55 days of racing.