'I'm over the worst of it': Richie Porte enjoying return to training after Tour de France horror crash

Richie Porte says he's 'over the worst' of his injuries suffered in a horrible crash on the descent of the Mont du Chat on stage nine of the Tour de France in July.

The Australian from Tasmania broke his right collarbone and elbow in as he came off of his bike after hitting the edge of the road on the treacherous descent, hitting the wall on the opposite side and taking down Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors).

While Martin was able to carry on and finish the Tour, only later to discover he had a fractured vertebrae, Porte was forced to abandon and was only able to return to riding on the road in mid-August.

The 32-year-old has since been able to return to full training, with BMC saying they hope he might be able to return to racing before the end of the season.

"Richie is improving very well. Now that he is back on the road he is starting to increase his kilometers and build his fitness up from scratch," BMC chief medical officer Dr Max Testa said.

"He has limited discomfort in his shoulder but the hip is not bothering him at all. We will continue to monitor his training and form over the coming weeks and then determine if Richie can line up at a race before the season ends.

"The goal is to see Richie pin a number on his back again before the off season."

Porte was in a good position in the Tour overall, at just 39 seconds behind race leader Chris Froome, before the crash happened.

Up until then, he'd had one of his most successful seasons after winning the overall at the Tour Down Under and the Tour de Romandie as well taking stage wins at Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he lead until the final day.

Porte has since missed the Vuelta a España and won't return in time to feature at the World Championships, but says he is enjoying being back out on the road, though admitted his injuries are still causing him problems.

"I'm feeling good. Obviously, the collarbone takes a little longer to recover and my elbow flared up a bit but hopefully that's nothing too serious. I'm over the worst of it," Porte explained.

"Every now and then I still feel some pain in the collarbone and elbow, when I hit a bump in the road for example. But, in general my recovery is on track."

"I started back on the trainers two weeks ago and last Monday I went back on the road for the first time. I've been riding every day and managing a light 2-3 hours. Of course, I've lost a lot of fitness and I'm getting passed on the road but it's nice to get the encouragement as they go by.

"At this stage, I'm still focusing on making a full recovery and we'll decide down the track whether I race again this year or if a solid block of training is what I need to recover best."

BMC also confirmed that Belgian rider Ben Hermans is set to return to full training soon. Hermans suffered a fractured right wrist, a fractured left big toe, a fracture on his sternum and broken teeth in a crash on the third stage of the Tour of Poland.