Richie Porte will ride Australian Gravel Championship race

It's been nine months now since Richie Porte pinned on race numbers at Tour of Britain 2022, but now he'll be back in action at Australian Gravel Championship race, the Devil's Cardigan in Tasmania. Porte confirms that he just wants to have a nice ride with friends.

"It was one of those things where, when I was in Europe around the races it is pretty stressful, but then when I saw my friends back in Tassie lining up for this new event called the Devil's Cardigan, then and there I thought it would be kind of nice to do something like that," Porte told Cyclingnews. "Low stress and low key and, you know, something to enjoy."

Porte however assures that he'll go easy: "You know, looking at the weather forecast I'll definitely be rugging up and I've got some good mates there who I didn't really get to ride with that much before, so it'd be nice to just go and do that.”

"I mean, I still enjoy riding my bike but it does become a bit like your job, so it is nice doing something that still excites you on the bike. It's something totally foreign to what I was doing for the last sort of 16 years of my life… it's just nice to do events where there's no stress, there's no pressure, you know, and it's going to be really enjoyable."