We Ride With Cycling Legend Richie Porte On Willunga Hill

Winning a KOM is a dream for many, but for professional Australian cyclist, Richie Porte, it’s a reality. He is the current holder of the Old Willunga Hill KOM in South Australia, an iconic climb in the Tour Down Under. Porte averaged over 27km/h up this hill climb, but can he be beaten? Alex is in South Australia to put Richie Porte to the test, how close will this hill climb challenge be?

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Old wunga Hill is one of the most iconic climbs in Australia regularly used in the tour down under 3 km long average gradient of 7% fastest time Richie Port 6 minutes 39 seconds but don’t be fooled into thinking this climb is easy because it is most certainly not when Richie

Port set the fastest time up here is said to have done over 7.5 watts per kilo bottom all the way up to the top but how fast is Richie Port now that he’s retired well I’m at Old wonger Hill and it turns out so’s Richie hi mate how you going good let’s go Race okay Richie welcome to gcn how’s it going good um this was the bit where you were supposed to welcome me to Australia what’s wrong with that straight off the airplane into Wanga Hill can’t think of it much better than for ay welcome oh yeah well thanks very much I I’ll I’ll

Take that kindly um so uh the tour down under is going to be coming up here racing up here in a few days time so I somehow a few weeks back thought it would be a good idea if we had a race up here not only against each other but

Also against the clock to see um just how well you keep in shape after retiring and also how are times compared to what the pros are going to do today so how are you feeling yeah I’m not too uh confident my abilities at the moment it’s been it’s been a long retirement But what’s retired life like it’s a lot less stressed than uh professional cycling life it’s uh it’s Bliss to be honest I don’t miss cycling at all I like riding my bike but I don’t miss the professional side of it okay yeah that’s interesting so what like what you been

Up to what what sort of stuff’s going on well what’s been up H I’m a builder’s labor now but straight back down to reality yeah my brother’s a builder and I love it it’s just it’s nice you know it’s nice to you know I I lived on the

Other side of the the planet for half my life so it’s nice to you know have have family around and things like that I’ve been doing a lot of swimming um a little bit of riding and just enjoying being there with the kids and and my wife oh was nice family life exactly

Right okay right I thought also we could probably spice things up a little bit and um we can place a bet right we each have to try and guess the other person’s Time bottom to the top whoever finishes the closest wins the cash how much you want to bet all

$3 I put on my abilities at the moment at uh I’m actually glad you said three um I didn’t bring any money so I was really worried you were going to say some cra makes two of us right $3 is on the line um pretty high stakes shall we

Get set up and race let’s do it all right Thanks I don’t really know where the hell to start in trying to guess what time you’re going to do um like I’m borderline I’m borderline thinking of saying I could double the time but don’t want to like offend you no that’s fine yeah yeah that’s fine I think um 639

What’s that times 2 12 13 13 20 that’s good I reckon that’s a good starting point for me okay what do you think for me I haven’t got anything to base it off of to to looking looking at you I reckon you’ll go sub3 for sure

Looks can be deceiving though oh I don’t know yeah you’re looking pretty sharp oh that’s straight off the plane can’t believe this richy Bo just said I’m looking sharp you do look sharp oh man that means a lot thanks yep say sharp as a bowling ball you

Look H yeah I I’ll take that yeah great um well shall we get to the race Let’s Do It um we’ll start a little bit steady go easy on we can talk a bit more about the climb as well as we go sounds good um we’re always clear behind do you want

To count us in let’s go 3 2 1 off we go okay Richie we’re into the base of the climb now I’m actually slightly out of breath already I think we should take it a bit steady going into it and then really re it at the top so um Talk us

Through the climb basically you’re someone that I feel is very well experienced on this yeah I think well basically the climb started about 6ks from here when you turn left onto the road it was always a massive drag race yeah pretty tricky pretty dangerous I gu like wasn’t much

To to win but if you’re out of position at the the bottom here it’s kind of where the sprinters and the bigger guys yeah used all their W bombs and uh trying to put you into position so it’s easy to forget it but I for me I

Remember like just you know days of Ian stanard yeah just giving his all up here and and and doing a great job to to put me in the the right position yeah it’s kind of crazy thinking about how the gradients affect all the different Riders but like how would you go about

Pacing a climb like this fairly short yeah and not super steep what would you do yeah I mean it’s a I think that’s the thing is you just tried to not make it too too difficult in your head and just you know there was a million different

Scenarios but at the end of the day when you get onto something like this that’s when you know I guess the the uh power to weight ratio just comes into effect yeah I feel like I’m feeling that already now me too feels like we’re about 2,000 M High doesn’t it yeah so

Old longer Hill has been like a staple of the tour down on Race for pretty much since his Inception is that right yeah pretty much normally back in the olden days the old days it used to uh come up and over but finish in the town so you

Didn’t do it two times like they do now and you know you’d have guys like GLE and Alan Davis sort of winning that those stages so it’s definitely changed really like change the dynamic of the race so you have raced up here how many times probably about 8 I think the

Fastest time that I ever did up at the time that I got the straa yeah actually got rolled by Matt Holmes at the top which is uh pretty cool it’s pretty cool now we’re going to talk about that a little bit more after our race cuz I’ve

Got something fun and exciting to show you which I hope you’re going to laugh at but um you can reserve judgment on that for later so in terms of when the race is coming up here at what point is it really starting to bite and hurt is

The race splitting up yeah I think at this point there’s a bit of a selection already made what we 750 m into it but this is kind of where you know you get the guys that were a minute down on GC kind of you know making the an early

Attack yeah and it was one of those one of those climbs that you always needed a few teammates but you never seem to have enough teammates to to keep it under control well you got no teammates today you just go head to-head with me I know and I’m not very confident either well

You I think you’re playing it too too kind you’re playing close to your Chest Right so you’ve said some of the toughest climbs you’ve done and toughest efforts have been up here but how the hell is that possible compared to some of the crazy climbs that you’re doing like the tour to France is it just because of the effort level every was

Putting in probably so and then the Heat and yeah the motivation also was always pretty high on this climb whereas a a tour climb a traditional tour CL being a bit longer you know it probably wasn’t as intense yeah um you know a climb is 3

Km you can do a lot of damage to yourself on so we were saying I’ve noticed already have switched sides from me just trying to hide from the wind ready for an attack well I think my only chance to beat you is to put you into the Armco

Barrier there before I attack that’s about only way I’m going to win this battle I reckon oh God so whilst the gradient is pretty steady there are some undulations and changes and I guess when you’re racing that’s where you’re going to really put your attacks in yeah and that’s the

Thing isn’t it sometimes it is actually better to give him a bit of a you know a bit of a hit them a little bit on on a flatter section just to see who’s got it without really putting yourself into the red yeah okay you got

Me I’m near the 300 W marker now rich is pushing on he’s keeping us honest that’s about all I’ve got I reckon oh I can’t hear you breathing yet I’m like a Henry the Hoover over here I think I’m like a duck underw water I am crapping myself cuz I know

Around here is the T the time to really distance me so good luck where was it the year that Matt holes Matt H go claimed his victory on here I probably actually caught him around about here yeah to be honest yeah so talk us through it you caught him how

How was that thing well that was the thing is we didn’t think we were going to get the Breakaway back that day yeah and uh I had to go from the bottom I love Simon Yates top L when I heard in the radio that Yates here was cracking

Yeah it was uh brilliant because he was probably the closest on my GC yeah and I have a lot of respect for him so then when I heard that and it was game on for the stage like a shark sniffing out blood I remember giving uh Matt a couple

Of little probing attacks yeah and realized that I wasn’t going to drop him because you know we got him on the the flat apart yeah and he’s stuck to my wheel but to be quite honest we become pretty good mates of mad after and the Victory meant more to him than it would

Have done to me so there you go I still won the GC so that’s a sign of a true gentleman yeah yeah I guess so and like the Elder Statesman had you have asked me that that night then I guess I would have wanted to won everything but

Doesn’t really matter now I’m retired it’s right not an issue on that the Top’s not far oh there you go come on so go straight on here I think straight on yeah straight on that’s all right straight on that’s where the Finish is just watch out for cars of

Course I’m going to try and get your wheel and then I’m going to flick left cuz that’s where the Finish is that’s actually pretty easy cuz he’s going on the wrong way so uh I think that’s probably the easiest Victory I’ve had up here right Richie mate what what’s going

On what’s this all about what the hell was that mate you don’t study the parkour you deserve to be second why did you not tell me they good left at the top you’re not the first to do that Nicole FR did that one year third position and she’s followed the cars cuz

That’s the offshoot yeah and uh she’s she’s done a u BT and still finished third so anyway not too bad I went wrong did a u-turn and still finished exactly I’m going to count that as a small victory I finished second here before and there was no nothing wrong with that

Yeah there’s no wrong with that right the important bit we need to decide now um what was the actual time that you got pretty uh what 13:36 oh not to bad that’s pretty good guess double in a bit um I’ve got well I’ve actually got 14 16 cuz I did that

Bit of a detour so technically well you actually won on the race the top but who’s winning the cash um so uh what did you guess you guess I sub3 actually so well but I said that I’ve won I’ve won the cash done you’re going to break me

$3 up wa come on my kids are going to have to go through public school now that’s uh you’ve robbed me no oh my God got no heart do you well you’re an absolutely incredible sport but now we’ve got that absolute Grand Slam Showdown out of the way um shall we head

Down to the bottom of climb and have a little bit of a chat and catch up talk more about the tour Down Under And this iconic climb and just be a little bit more civilized shall we let’s do that yeah if we can find a coffee I treat it

To a coffee with my $3 I’ve Won lovely the sun’s come out now that we’ve completed our race I’m going to use race quite Loosely we use our artistic license there a little bit we did didn’t we so um the time that we were talking about the fastest time on stra that you set was actually from um

20220 yeah I missed a few years out there now that year um you didn’t actually win the stage here did you you’ve claimed most of the ones that you done but a good friend of mine Matt hommes on the stage there you go now we’ve spoken about this a little bit

Earlier as we were climbing up but I sent Matt a WhatsApp message the other day right there he is and I asked him to record a little video for you and this is what he sent me hey Richie so is a message for you from the ghost of the

Past the one time you didn’t win on vonger hill this gentleman M you Holmes one up there m you say hi to Richie Hello make sure you don’t let Alex beat you this time here we go Richie enjoy life happy retirement for you well there you go I

Just thought it was like a bit of fun I got literally no idea how Yen’s vo ended up in this either the hardest man of professional cycling and Matt Holmes yeah that was like I yeah I’m not sure how Yen’s like infiltrated into that but

Hey it was a bit of fun cool to get Matt involved right that pretty much wraps up our fun and games for today Richie I do want to say like big thanks for like coming out having fun spending your time with us and being just like a brilliant

Sport so um yeah appreciate it man thanks for having me good stuff now I got to say if you are ever visiting like the Adelaide region do bring a bike if you haven’t got a bike hire one head out and explore on the roads cuz they’re truly amazed around here aren’t they

Yeah love it right I’ve got loads of other cool content coming out and filming all around the tour down under if you want to see that head over subscribe to gcn and gcn Tech and also leave a comment Down Below on what you think of not only my performance but

Richie’s performance up the cine and if you think you could beat the times that we did now that are somewhat closer to reality aren’t they probably so right Richie mate see you there thanks very much