Despite having a relatively quiet Vuelta a España for a rider of his stature, Richie Porte believes he´s still on track for a serious crack at the rainbow jersey at the World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, later this month. The Australian`s primary objective for the season, the Tour de France, once again ended in disappointment as he crashed out of the race with a broken collarbone, but he has been finding his feet again on the roads of Spain. While many assumed he`d be in contention for the overall title, it quickly became clear it was the last thing on his mind as the BMC Racing leader began to lose time as early as the first few stages. Barring a couple of innocuous breakaways, he had little impact on the race, even in the final week.ADVERTISEMENT `It`s been nice to come here and not be stressed with the GC and all of that. I`m kind of where I expected I would be so it`s no big surprise that most days I`ve lost time. But I think I`m getting better. I`m certainly better than when I started,` Porte told Cyclingnews at the end of the race. `At this time of the year it`s easier to be here doing such a hard race to try to find form than being at home kind of being forced to go out and do efforts. It`s a hard race, with hard finishes, so it doesn`t matter if you`re up trying to win stages or just in the group; it`s not an easy race. Even if you get dropped and ride up the climb at a decent tempo, it`s better than a day`s training at home where you dilly-dally around and do an effort on the climb.` Along with Bahrain-Merida`s Vincenzo Nibali, Porte has been riding alongside some of the other favourites for the rainbow bands, such as the Yates brothers (Simon and Adam of Mitchelton-Scott), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), and the Colombian trio of Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana), Rigoberto Urán (EF Education First-Drapac) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar), all of whom were engaged in the battle for the general classification.
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