BMC Racing´s general classification leader Richie Porte wasn´t at the unveiling of the 2018 Tour de France route, but his directeur sportif Valerio Piva believes that the Australian will be happy with what was laid out before the audience at the Palais des Congres on Tuesday. Tour organiser ASO detailed a race that will test the general classification riders´ ability to adapt to all terrains. Porte, who came into this year´s race as one of the big favourites but crashed out dramatically on the descent of the Mont du Chat on stage 9, will once again be BMC Racing´s leader at the French Grand Tour. `I need to speak to him, but I think that he will like it,` Piva told Cyclingnews following the announcement. `He´s a good time triallist and a good climber. If I remember correctly, I think that he was 10th in the Roubaix stage when Froome crashed [Porte actually finished 20th in 2014 - ed.] so I think that it will be a good Tour for him.ADVERTISEMENT `I´m convinced that this year, if he hadn´t crashed, he would have been one of the contenders, but we need to focus on this year and work to have him in good condition, motivated and avoid these risks of crashing. I think he will be motivated to fight and to try to do the best in this Tour.` Porte will hope that his 2018 campaign will go better than it did this year, but he will have to navigate an opening week that could prove perilous for the peloton in general. From the first stage, which will pass over the infamous Passage du Gois, there are any number of days that the general classification riders could give away a fatal amount of time. `For sure it is for climbers, but at the beginning of the Tour it is possible to lose a lot if you´re not prepared,` explained Piva. `It´s a very difficult Tour with a cocktail of everything. From the beginning, we have a flat stage with the wind, a team time trial, a hilly stage with two times up the Mur de Bretagne, and the stage to Roubaix.` Reduced teams
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