"His strength is his climbing. He always tells people how he wants it. Maybe that is also together his weakness because sometimes he can be a little bit harsh in his words,"says teammate Koen de Kort.
"But I guess that's just the way it is and it's in the race,we all know what it's like,we all have yelled at our teammates before and at least he knows what he wants and we'll sort it out for him.
"The race is the race,we're good mates afterwards and he always thanks you several times after the stage,so you know what you do is appreciated and that's really important.
"Every leader wants to be looked after differently and Richie wants to be in the front as much as possible and always in safe a position. It took us a little bit of time to get used to that but I think we really nailed that during Tour de France[last year],"de Kort adds.
"There we worked really well together and we are definitely taking that with us now into here."
Porte has an intense focus and prefers to room by himself at races,where riders normally have twin-share accommodation,but is not a loner.
"He's very particular in when he wants to go to sleep and wake up. He doesn't want to bother anyone else,like saying,'Can you please turn the light off? I want to sleep now'. That's a bit easier when you're by yourself. But any other time of the day he wants people around him,"says de Kort.
Porte's consistent success at Down Under,where has been runner-up since an overall victory in 2017,is often diminished against the context of greater,Grand Tour ambitions that despite efforts he hasn't achieved yet.
Rohan Dennis (Ineos) put a spotlight on the sacrifices Grand Tour contenders make at Down Under earlier this week when he said he'd relinquished those goals,unable to cope with the mental and physical demands – perilous diets,limited social life,performance anxiety,performance,media,public criticism.
If there is an Australian on the circuit that truly understands that,it's Porte.
"Rohan is a master of being brutally honest and that is true. It is stressful always having to be 100 per cent on it,100 per cent of the time and thinking about everything you do,"he says.
"You beat yourself up about having a tub of yoghurt,two tubs of yoghurt and when the head really cracks it makes you laugh how on it you are with the diet. It's not possible to do that the whole year around."
Porte,in his 11th season as a pro and fifth as an outright WorldTour team leader,has a more pragmatic outlook on aspects of the game that have previously caused him to boil over.
"As long as you can kind of contain it to a couple of days. That's what you sign on for though. That's why teams pay you the money they do,"he continues.
"When you get to my age,I'll be 35 later this month,you know you're in the twilight of your career and when you look at it,in a few years'time when you've retired you're probably going to miss bits and pieces. But it's not the easiest lifestyle."
Porte was so good in assisting Chris Froome to Tour de France glory during a four-year tenure at Sky (now Ineos) that he left at the end of the 2015 season to pursue the yellow jersey himself. In his first shot at it with BMC in 2016,his former teammates,the defending champions,said the race was Porte's to lose. It was recognition and a mind game at the same time.
Porte finished fifth that year. But since it's been a battle on the road,against illness,injury,misfortune,and in the spotlight. Questions over Porte's ability to win the Tour have compounded and become cynical. First it was does he have the mongrel mentality needed to usurp Froome? Then it was,when will he win? Then,is he going to win?
Fatherhood and family have given Porte a new life perspective,pricked the bubble that the industry operates within.
"I guess it’s when you have a lot more respect for your wife,is when you spend as much time away from everyone,from the family,as you do,it’s a little bit trickier now,"he says
"I’ve been doing the miles in Tassie and it’s been pretty simple. Our baby is now a toddler so it’s nice to be able to take him up to the swimming pool and do some laps myself. You know,life is good. Once you have a baby it changes perspective and I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. Cycling is not the be all and end all in life now."
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Porte's horizon now extends to a life after cycling and you could ask if he even wants to win the Tour anymore. It's not been so much part of his vernacular,in South Australia at least.
"Motivation is definitely the same,I still train as hard as I ever did. It's probably more time management now. You can't come home and just lounge around,"he says.
"Everyone would love to win the Tour,whether it's possible or not ... I think with Ineos,the team that they can send there and not just them,Jumbo-Visma,there's so many strong teams. But I'd like to go to the Tour and still perform well. That's probably more the realistic goal.
"It's still a privilege to ride my bike every day."
Ineos and Jumbo-Visma are set to send three bona fide leaders each to the Tour this season versus Trek-Segafredo's selection in Porte and Bauke Mollema.
"I've got a lot of confidence in him still,"de Kort says of Porte."The last Australian Tour de France winner won it at a respectable age,so who knows."