Richie Porte phones home in the aftermath of horrific Tour de France crash

Mrs Porte had been watching the stage with Porte’s father Ian but said she ‘had a feeling’ something might happen to her son.

“We knew it was a dangerous stage, it had been wet, I just had a feeling, intuition maybe,” she said.

“I couldn’t see it, I walked away and came back in hoping it would be over and it was, but not in the way we expected.”

Mrs Porte said she had spoken to her son on Monday morning from the hospital – Centre Hopitalier Metropole Savoie in Chambery – where he had been transferred.

“I spoke to him this morning from the hospital, he was dazed but he said he was ok, the team is looking after him,” she said.

“He told me he would have a month of healing and he would be transferred back to Monaco soon.”

Porte was descending at about 70km/h when he lost control on Mont du Chat.

After veering off the road on the inside of a left-hander, Porte hit the bitumen, slid into rival Dan Martin before the pair smashed into rocks.

Porte suffered injuries including a non-displaced right clavicle fracture and a non-displaced acetabulum (hip) fracture and extensive cuts and abrasions to the right side of his body.

Mrs Porte said her son had not told her how he was feeling about having to exit the race, but said it was disappointing for the family.

“He had great hopes this time so it’s disappointing all round for all of us,” she said.

Porte is expected to be moved to a hospital in Monaco in the coming days but in the meantime his wife Gemma is by his side.

Mrs Porte said Gemma had been travelling to Chambery to be with Porte for Monday’s rest day from competition but changed her flights to get there quicker after she heard about the crash.

She said she and her husband would not be travelling to Monaco to be with their son as they believed he was already in safe hands.

“I don’t think he wanted the pressure of us being there and he is with his wife now,” she said.

Mrs Porte said it was hard watching her son compete and she believed she had seen him endure similar crashes twice before.

“It gets really hard to watch, I don’t like it,” she said.

However, she thanked all the officials and Porte’s team for how they were assisting him in the aftermath.

Mrs Porte said his team was like his family and they all looked after each other. She said even some of his competitors were his friends.

“At the end of the day it could have been much worse, he will heal up and he will be back.”

The Examiner