Richie Porte says Chris Froome encouraged others to “gang up” on him. He learned about the plot against him from Dan Martin. This photo of Froome and Porte all smiles was taken the day before Porte would lose the Dauphine after sustained attacking for many riders.
Porte says Froome asked riders to gang up on him at Dauphiné
The nearly man of the 2017 season, Richie Porte has claimed that Dan Martin told him Chris Froome was organising for several other riders to attack him.
Porte was speaking to Rouleur magazine about how he lost the Critérium du Dauphiné back in June.
The Australian said Froome was going around organising for a number of other big name riders to gang up on him.
He eventually lost outright victory on the final day when attacked by a large number of favourites and isolated.
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And now he has said Dan Martin told him Froome was asking other riders to work together, or gang up, to attack him.
“There were a few unsportsmanlike things that went on,” Porte said of the Dauphiné.
“It’s fair to say that there was an alliance amongst the stronger guys. That’s not uncommon in cycling.
“At the same time, my team-mates should have been there.
“But when Dan Martin comes up to you and says that Chris is going around asking the other GC guys to gang up and attack Richie, that was quite a bitter pill to swallow.”
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How the final stage went
While he had been in great form in the early part of the year, winning the Tour de Romandie and Tour Down Under, Richie Porte faltered when the biggest goals came around.
The full summary of this unbelievable stage!#Dauphine pic.twitter.com/4cLugoojci
— Critérium Dauphiné (@dauphine) June 11, 2017
He had the Dauphiné yellow jersey going into the last stage but lost it. And while he vowed to make amends at the Tour de France he crashed out in a spill that ended his season.
In his interview in the latest edition of Rouleur he says he lost the Dauphiné after unsportsmanlike behaviour by Froome, his former roommate at Team Sky.
Porte was subjected to a flurry of attacks for almost the entire final stage. He became isolated on the 115km trek that concluded at the top of Plateau de Solaison.
He would claw his way back to most of the men who one by one got away from him; catching Chris Froome and dropping him on the final climb.
But Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Dan Martin (QuickStep) were already up the road leading. And when Fuglsang won the stage and the time bonus, he took the overall victory.
Porte was pushed into 2nd overall, by just 10 seconds. And Martin was 3rd overall.
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