After a fairly disappointing return to the Tour de France, Richie Porte opted to let off some steam by completing a heroic Everest challenge just days after the final stage of the Grand Tour.
Trek-Segafredo rider Porte took to the slopes of the Col de la Madone on Saturday (August 3) to take on the huge effort to celebrate the birthday of friend and professional triathlete Cameron Wurf.
Porte, who finished 11th on general classification in Paris last weekend, uploaded the ride to Strava and the stats reveal how tough it is to Everest an Alpine climb.
The Col de la Madone is 13.1km in length and averages seven per cent gradient, with ramps up to 10 per cent, making it a daunting climb to reach the magic number of 8,848m, the height of the tallest mountain in the world.
Porte and Wurf set off from the foot of the climb near Menton at 6.20am on Saturday and finished their ride 16 hours later, after 14 hours and 22 minutes moving time.
The pair covered 270km to reach the target altitude gain, with Strava saying they went over to 9,012 metres.
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Porte averaged 18.8km/h during the ride as he rode the full distance of the regular training climb for pros 10 times, and then climbed back up to Saint-Agnés three-quarters of the way up to round off the ride.
The official rules for completing the Everest challenge are set by Everesting CC – the ride must be over 8,847m altitude gain minimum, it must be a single activity on a single climb, and you cannot ride a loop, it must be up and down the same climb on the same road.
Porte accomplished the huge feat just a week after finishing the Tour de France, where he finished almost 13 minutes down on race winner Egan Bernal (Team Ineos).
The 34-year-old has no races currently on his schedule for the rest of the year, having ridden the Tour Down Under, the UAE Tour, the Volta a Catalunya, the Tour of California and the Critérium du Dauphiné before the Tour.
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Alex Ballinger is editor of BikeBiz magazine, the leading publication for the UK cycle industry, and is the former digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com. After gaining experience in local newsrooms, national newspapers and in digital journalism, Alex found his calling in cycling, first as a reporter, then as news editor responsible for Cycling Weekly's online news output, and now as the editor of BikeBiz. Since pro cycling first captured his heart during the 2010 Tour de France (specifically the Contador-Schleck battle) Alex covered three Tours de France, multiple editions of the Tour of Britain, and the World Championships, while both writing and video presenting for Cycling Weekly. He also specialises in fitness writing, often throwing himself into the deep end to help readers improve their own power numbers. Away from the desk, Alex can be found racing time trials, riding BMX and mountain bikes, or exploring off-road on his gravel bike. He’s also an avid gamer, and can usually be found buried in an eclectic selection of books.
