Team Sky 'fired up', Richie Porte meant no harm with wheel swap at Giro d'Italia

A two-minute penalty for Clarke's "great sportsmanship", as Porte described it, has left Team Sky's Australian leader languishing in 12th overall at the Giro - three minutes, nine seconds behind Tinkoff-Saxo's Alberto Contador, who wears the pink jersey.

Porte and Clarke (Orica-GreenEDGE) were both penalised on Tuesday for "non-regulation assistance to a rider of another team", after the latter gave the former his front wheel following a puncture.

"It was a spur of the minute thing," Porte told Team Sky's website on Wednesday.

"Alberto [Contador] summed it up last night - all you are thinking about when something like that happens is 'how can I make sure I lose the least time possible?'

"I didn't even give it a thought that it might be breaking the rules. Everything was happening so quickly and I was just acting on adrenaline."

Porte maintained his position relative to Contador during stage 11 but argued the penalty has given Team Sky extra motivation to help him to overall victory.

"I have to suck it up and we have to look forward as a team. It has been great to get so much support overnight. That means a lot," the 30-year-old Tasmanian said.

"No-one should doubt how much I still want to win this race. There are still two weeks to go.

"It has been a great Giro so far. There is still a lot of racing ahead, some tough stages and this has really fired the whole team up to try to get the time back."