WITH the threat of being “throttled” hanging over his head before the race, Richie Porte could sleep easy on Wednesday night despite surrendering his national time trial championship to teammate Rohan Dennis.

The 30-year-old Tasmanian stepped out for his new team BMC for the first time with modest expectations after being told to take a slower approach to the season with the aim of peaking for the Tour de France in July.

Despite that, he gave Dennis a genuine run for his money and in finishing second by 37 seconds after 40.9km, showed his BMC bosses that while he might be slightly under-done, he remains a genuine force.

“Allan Peiper (BMC performance manager) said that if I won today (Thursday) he was going to throttle me,” Porte said post-race in Ballarat.

“So to be a month of good training into the season and finish second to a class time trialler like Rohan it’s a great way to start.

“I’m happy to be on the podium and am not surprised that Rohan has taken this win, he deserves it, he’s hungry and I know how much he’s wanted that national jersey.”

Porte made the bold decision to leave Team Sky and two-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome after four years this season to join BMC as its co-leader with American Tejay van Garderen.

After making his long-awaited debut in BMC colours and aboard a new bike on Thursday, Porte said he was super-motivated for the rest of the year.

As well as racing the Tour de France, his season may include a time trial spot at the Rio Olympics especially if Australia opts to field two starters in the race against the clock.

media_camera Richie Porte (L) on the podium with Rohan Dennis. Picture: Colleen Petch.

“It’s been a long time coming, when you announce it in August it’s felt like an eternity I’ve been waiting to put the colours on,” Porte said.

“I’m happy, it’s a great team and I’m really looking forward to 2016.

“They are all significant when you’re at WorldTour (level) but Tejay (van Garderen) and myself, our big goal is in July (at the Tour de France).”

Porte, who was married during his off-season break, said he turned up to BMC’s training camp in the US last month as one of the heaviest guys there but by the new year had returned to good physical condition.

“I’ve really put my head down and got back into some fitness, I’m happy on the BMC bike this year, we’ve done a lot in the wind tunnel and on the track to get my position to where it is and with the Tour (de France) the way it is, it’s very important to be good on the time trial,” he said.

Porte and Dennis will form a potent 1-2 combination in Sunday’s 183.6km road race at Buninyong as BMC looks to wrestle the national champion’s jersey away from Orica-GreenEDGE who enter the race with hot favourites Simon Gerrans and Caleb Ewan.

reece.homfray@news.com.au