It was in July 2021 that the inaugural edition of the Devil's Cardigan gravel race kicked off in the cold southern hemisphere winter weather of Tasmania. At the time Richie Porte was halfway around the world, in the midst of summer, racing his final Tour de France with Ineos Grenadiers. The year before he had been triumphant at the French Grand Tour, with the Australian stepping onto the podium and achieving a long held goal, but in 2021 he would perhaps rather have been somewhere else.
"It was one of those things where, when I was in Europe around the races it is pretty stressful, but then when I saw my friends back in Tassie lining up for this new event called the Devil's Cardigan, then and there I thought it would be kind of nice to do something like that," Porte told Cyclingnews. "Low stress and low key and, you know, something to enjoy.”
