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A win in a bike race can have an impact. Even when watching on a screen a long way from the action, it can conjure a range of emotions. Overnight Richie Porte became the second Australian to win the Tour de Romandie. 

 

Photos: Yuzuru Sunada

 

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“It’s been a tough week for all of us and it sort of makes cycling, or racing, feel a little irrelevant after what’s happened.”

– Richie Porte

 

 

A victory can lift the spirits. A smile from a podium can wipe away the blues if the rider you see up there is one that you admire. To see a guy like Richie Porte pull on another yellow jersey at the end of a stage race can change the mood a little.

Finishing second in the TT of the final stage of the Tour de Romandie and gaining enough of an advantage to overtake Simon Yates in the general classification rankings is an impressive accomplishment. It’s great cycling.

It comes at That Time Of The Year when we start really paying attention to what The GC Guys are doing. And, for many Australian fans, it prompts them to rub their hands together and tap their toes in anticipation of what may come next.

Remember the last time an Aussie clad in the BMC Racing colours won the title? Ah yes, 2011 was a good year for the sport down under. It was at this point in the season that Cadel Evans won a yellow jersey. A few months later, with a second place in a time trial on the penultimate day of the Tour de France, he inherited the lead of GC. The next day he was the champion of the world’s biggest bike race. And by the end of the year, there was a home coming parade on the streets of Melbourne.

Cycling didn’t just make the news, it was the news.

Okay, it’s not quite like that right now. Richie Porte’s accomplishments in Switzerland overnight could earn a murmur in the mainstream Australia media but for those who follow ‘our’ sport, it’s something to celebrate. It gives us hope: the champion of the opening round of the 2017 WorldTour is a winner again a few months later and clearly his form is good.

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Congrats Richie, it’s great to see you up there in yellow.

(As that sentence was typed, the phone buzzed: a message from Richie appeared on my phone appeared. “Talk later this week.”)

It’s late in Europe. He’s been racing his bike for five stages, up mountains, through valleys, at high speed… and faster than everyone else. Soon he’ll sleep. He’s in Europe. I’m in Australia. But we have caught up regularly over the years while on opposite sides of the world, often after he’s just won a big race.

Porte isn’t new to winning. He’s done so often. The one-week events seem to suit him well. Paris-Nice (twice). Volta a Catalunya. Tour Down Under. Tour de Romandie… these are some of his conquests.

And there’ll be more. But each one has an effect on us. We smile and think, ‘One for one of the good guys.’

There’s merit on these conquests. We can admire from afar and, even if we don’t get to hear all the intimate detail – or see much of it reported on in Australia – it’s possible to feel as though there’s something exciting happening.

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With the Tour de Romandie over, those who follow cycling know what comes next: the Grande Partenza is almost upon us. This time it’s the 100th Giro d’Italia and from next Saturday onward we’ll be tuning in to cheer men vying for a pink jersey.

It’s an exciting time of the year for cycling. And when a rider like Richie Porte is winning, it makes a difference for Australian fans. It seems more tangible, more real, more exciting… more worthwhile.

But really, in the scheme of things, it can also seem a little “irrelevant”.

Cycling can conjure a smile and it has the potential to make the world a better place. It is beautiful for so many reasons but after a week when two men have left us, both because of awful accidents while riding their bikes, it is a time to reflect. To think about the greater picture, to consider what inspires us and why.

“If I’m honest,” Porte said in Switzerland when he knew he was 21 faster than Simon Yates, “it’s a bit of a shock to win.

“I knew I was in good condition for this race so to finish off the hard work that BMC Racing Team have put in for me is incredible.”

Yep. The diplomat who offers appropriate praise when asked, “how are you feeling right now?”

But then he pauses and puts it into context: “I also think I should make mention to two of our colleagues who we recently lost; Chad Young and Michele Scarponi.”

I read his reference to the two riders who lost their lives last week and words from REM’s ‘Voice of Harold’ come to mind.

“Chill bumps appear and I am frozen in the web they weave as they reveal their innermost selves with the outpouring of their hearts.”

 

* * * * *

 

Thanks Richie for giving us a little bit of inspiration, a sense of motivation. A reason to smile at a time when there is so much sadness. And thanks for having the humility to honour Chad and Michele with a simple reference to the fact that we will not forget them just because another race has been won.

 

 

– By Rob Arnold

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