The INEOS Grenadiers' veteran Richie Porte has recently announced that 2022 will be his last season as a professional riders and has left some indications regarding his goals. However, he has opened up more about his last year.
“I didn’t enjoy my Tour last year and to be quite fair it’s not the race where you want people that aren’t enjoying themselves. I just want to try and enjoy my last year, which the team are totally good with.” Porte finished a distant 38th place last year at the Tour de France and never managed to show his top level, which came as a surprise seeing how he came into the race just having won the Critérium du Dauphiné.
“To win the Dauphine last year at 36 … and take on and beat guys who then went and podiumed in the Tour after was nice. But also, I think for me last year by the end of the Dauphine I was on fumes. I needed a break and that was probably the age catching up a little bit too. You just can’t go and go and go,”
Regarding the Tour de France 2020, where he finally managed to achieve a career-long goal of being on the podium in Paris, he also had something to say: “Pogacar is a massive favourite, but then we had four guys, myself included, who probably could have really done something in the race, but I didn’t enjoy having that pressure, then not having the support either."
“I also got what I wanted out of the Tour in 2020 when I podiumed. That was something I was always striving for and then to finally get it, I don’t feel like I have that much business with the Tour. Yeah, sure I would have loved to have won an individual stage, but I can retire happy having not done that. It’s something I would have loved to have done, but it didn’t happen.”
![Chris Lawless: “I would like to ride some [Classics] with Peter Sagan"](https://r.testifier.nl/Acbs8526SDKI/resizing_type:fill/width:1920/height:1280/plain/https://s3-newsifier.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cyclinguptodatecom/images/2022-02/1040340622-61fb09e44b61c.jpg@webp)
Once again though he pointed out where the ambitions lie for this season, having a supporting role in the Giro d'Italia as the most proeminent goal of the season. “I’d love to win a stage of the Giro. My first Giro I ended up in the pink jersey, which is still to this day, it’s like what, 12 years ago, but still a massive career highlight, or one of the career highlights,”
“My big aim is to try and enjoy it. As stressful as the job is and high pressure, I know it’s been a pretty incredible way to earn a living and see the world. Living on the other side of the world has got its challenges, but it’s also a pretty cool thing to have done. It’ll be nice to enjoy that last European year.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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