Richie Porte has done nothing to hide that he would like to be Sky captain at next year's Giro d'Italia and he appears to be backed in his quest by the team management. Sports director Dan Hunt told Cyclingnews at the Giro presentation that Porte is ready to take on a leadership role but that the team's 2014 schedule still hadn't been finalized.

It has been an incredible 2013 for Richie Porte who has firmly established himself as one of the best stage race riders in the world. An overall win in the Paris-Nice, a 2nd place in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and 2nd places behind team leader Chris Froome in the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Criterium International have put the Australian at the top end of the hierarchy.

The string of top results has also allowed Porte to get more personal freedom and earlier this year, news circulated that he had been promised a leadership role in the Giro d'Italia. He repeated his desire to go to the Italian grand tour when CyclingQuotes talked to him at the world championships where he also revealed that he hoped to go back to the Tour after the Giro to support Chris Froome in his bid to defend his title.

Now Sky sports director Dan Hurt confirms that Porte is a genuine candidate to lead the mighty British team in the Giro. The course contains several hard mountain stages but also a long time trial and a team time trial that would suit the versatile Australian, and Hunt thinks that Porte has what it takes to win the Italian grand tour.

“He’s ready to lead at a grand tour,” he told Cyclingnews at the route presenation. “I think he has the possibility of wining the Giro. I think he has all the right credentials to lead and win a grand tour but in three weeks of road racing almost anything is possible. It’s probably the hardest race on the calendar."

However, a final decision hasn't been made yet.

“I think he’s experienced, he’s developed both physically and mentally as a rider," Hunt said. "He’s got that level of maturity that’s needed in order to lead in a grand tour. The next few weeks are about a time of recovery after a long season and then the management team with Richie in particular can sit down and think about what it would take to win the Giro. So rather than looking at it with just some hopes and dreams we’ll start looking at it objectively and figuring out how are we going to win, who are we going to win it with and what do we need to win this race. We’ll just work backwards from there.”

This year the team had to carefully plan its schedule to make sure that Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome were both well-supported in the Giro and the Tour, respectively. Wiggins has said that his time as a grand tour rider is probably over and plans to go to the Tour to support Froome. This would open the door for Porte to take on a leadership role in the Giro.

However, it will once again be a difficult task for the team to line up strong rosters to support their captains in both grand tours. The loss of Rigoberto Uran will be felt and while Philip Deignan and Mikel Nieve have been signed as replacements, it takes considerable resources to win two grand tours in a row.

“Our key issue is about dividing up the squad and making sure that we’re strong at both the Giro and the Tour and making sure that we’re not reliant on the same individuals doing both," Hunt said. "We can’t go to the Giro and try and win if we don’t have the right team around Richie, but we don’t want to weaken our Tour team.”

This year the team won the Tour with Froome while Uran finished 2nd in the Giro.