The decision to scratch Porte from the Giro on May 9-June 1 was only confirmed on Monday, although doubts he would race it emerged after he withdrew from Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy and then the Volta a Catalunya in Spain citing gastroenteritis.

While disappointed to miss an opportunity to lead Sky at the Giro, Porte said it was the right decision, and that he is now focused solely on the Tour from July 5-27 - rather than tackling the Giro-Tour double as initially planned.

"Now I can get on with preparing for the Tour as best I can," Porte told Fairfax Media on Wednesday from a team training camp in Tenerife.

"I lost three weeks of training, or three weeks where I wasn’t able to train properly and that’s not the best thing when you have an event marked out.

"So I think it was a smart decision to sit the Giro out his year. I’m at the point now where I can recover and go to the Tour in absolute top form."

Porte said that for Froome to win a second Tour, Sky will need their very best team, and couldn't afford to be exposed as they were occasionally last year; especially against the likes of Spaniards Albert Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), and Italian Vinzenzo Nibali (Astana).

"We are going to have a great Tour team ... and it’s going to be stronger than last year," Porte said.

"I think we will be ready to take on Contador, Nibali, Valverde and whoever else on in the high mountains."

And if Sky does select their strongest team, Porte believes he should be able to help Froome and seek his own chances if they fit with team strategy.

"He is the favourite. He is the best rider in the peloton," Porte said of Froome.

"People are saying Contador and this and that, but I think Chris is still head and shoulders the strongest guy.

“It doesn’t make sense for me to go in there thinking I am going to have a team riding for me, but I think I can play off that too.

“If I go in there in top form … I don’t see why I can’t help Chris out and also run a good [place] on 'GC' [general classification] as well.

“If I haven’t got to do anything until the last few kilometres in those summit top finishes, I can play a card – to help Chris pull or maybe attack."

Porte denied that his Giro scratching was a knee-jerk response by Sky over the current form of Contador.

“Alberto is in much better form this year. He is in top form now. Maybe he is going to pay for that down the path too, you just don’t know," Porte said.

“The Tour is still a massive opportunity as a team player, but there are going to be opportunities there where I might be able to go for a stage."

Porte said he realised his Giro campaign was doomed during the Volta a Catalunya "when I couldn’t hold on to the bunch on the first day."

He hopes to next race at Liege-Bastogne-Liege on April 21, but plans to "be back in, throwing punches" at the Tour de Romandie on April 29-May 5.