Speaking after finishing third overall at the Swiss race he won last year, the Australian said he was happy with his performance but there's room for improvement.
"Now's the time to be honest, to start being serious," he said in the post race interview captured by . "It's been up and down until now but to be third in Romandie, I would've loved to have won the race obviously the passing of Andy Rihs last week, it wasn't to be. But I'm still happy to be on the podium.
"Obviously being from Australia it's great to do the Tour Down Under but I'm not sure I'll go back there next year."
"It's obviously not great to miss races like Paris-Nice, Tirreno or Catalunya but maybe with hindsight it is a better thing. Normally I'd be in a little better condition here but to come away with a podium still good for the confidence."
Asked when he came to the idea of perhaps not doing the Tour Down Under as he was still talking about racing it in February, he said it was his coach.
"I think it's more my coach David Bailey who put the idea in my head that maybe next year it's wise to have a year off Tour Down Under."
The Tasmanian also discussed the future of the BMC team which is yet to find a major sponsor or commit to the WorldTour beyond 2018.
In the report published overnight he said "I don’t want to lie, it is a little bit stressful."
"We ride our bikes and it is the management’s job to find a sponsor for us next year. It would be sad to see BMC go. They’re a great team and I’ve had a great couple of years here. Now is crunch time,” he told Cyclingnews.
In the same article, Porte said he's not sure about offers from other teams and that was something to speak to his manager Andrew McQuaid about who was letting him concentrate on racing Romandie. "But fingers crossed there’s a BMC team next year," Porte said "It hurts to have lost Andy Rihs last week. This team was his passion and we want to keep that going.”
On Sky's rising star Egan Bernal who finished ahead of Porte in second place overall at Romandie, he said "he's a massive talent! He's 21...there's a future Tour de France champion for sure.
"Only Roglic had the legs to respond to him yesterday. I was 60-70 metres behind and he was giving Roglic absolute hell up there."
