One of Australia's finest road cyclists, Richie Porte, has been presented with the Key to the City by Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten.
Porte, who turns 36 today, capped off a successful 2020 with a podium finish at the prestigious Tour de France late last year.
Traditionally the Key to the City is presented by the Mayor at a civic ceremony to recognise outstanding achievement in sport, entertainment or humanitarian work at a national or international level.
And while the granting of the Key to the City is a symbolic presentation with no privileges, it remains steeped in tradition - an honour bestowed to just a handful of members of the community who have achieved the extraordinary in their chosen field.
Mayor van Zetten said he could think of no one more deserving of the honour of receiving the Key to the City than Richie Porte.
"Richie has been a leading cyclist on the world stage for a number of years and his performance finishing third at the Tour de France was an outstanding achievement," Mayor van Zetten said.
"He has been a wonderful ambassador not only for his home state Tasmania, but for all Australians and it is certainly an honour to present Richie with the Key to the City."
Porte joins an elite group of recipients of the Key to the City, which includes round-the-world yachtsman Ken Gourlay in 2007, world boxing champion Daniel Geale in 2012, Test captain Ricky Ponting in 2014 - and most recently, esteemed composer, the late Peter Sculthorpe in 2015.
Porte attended St Patrick's College and from an early age was a keen and talented young sportsperson.
A sports award at the school's Croagh Patrick campus is named in his honour and awarded to the best athlete in Year 9 annually.
Porte started taking his cycling seriously in 2006 at the age of 21, having a background in triathlon and was also a competitive swimmer.
He rode for UniSA–Australia at the 2008 Tour Down Under and finished ninth overall in his first major event. He then raced with a Tasmanian UCI Continental team, Praties, in 2008 and 2009, finishing fifth at the 2008 Herald Sun Tour and winning the Tours of Perth and Tasmania.
Porte continued his meteoric rise and under the watchful eye of Andrea Tafi on the Monsummanese Grassi Mapei amateur Italian team in 2009, finished 10th at the 2009 Tour de Langkawi.
But it was his performance at the 2009 Baby Giro, where he won the individual time trial, which brought him to the attention of the professional teams.
Following two successful seasons racing at amateur level in Europe, Porte signed a professional contract with Team Saxo-Bank in 2010. He made an incredible start to his professional cycling career, recording his first win in the Time Trial stage at the Tour of Romandie in April 2010.
That win, and a string of other strong performances, saw Richie gain selection for the 2010 Giro d'Italia. In what was his first Grand Tour start, Porte won the Best Young Rider classification and secured seventh position overall.
While his career has been littered with a number of classification and tour victories over the past decade, his crowning achievement to date is undoubtedly his podium finish at the 2020 Tour de France - having previously finished fifth in 2016 and 11th in 2019.
In September, Porte announced that he would be leaving the Trek–Segafredo team, signing a two-year contract with Ineos Grenadiers. Mayor van Zetten said he had no doubt that Porte will continue his stunning form in 2021 and wished him the best as he sets off on a new chapter in his distinguished career.
