Stage fright? No way: Aussie Jai Hindley having the ride of his life at Le Tour

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Stage fright? No way: Aussie Jai Hindley having the ride of his life at Le Tour

By Sophie Smith

Bordeaux: Jai Hindley’s friendly and relaxed demeanour belies his insatiable drive that has put the Australian cyclist in an ominous position at the Tour de France.

Striving to be a pro racer since the age of six, Hindley realised a childhood ambition when he made his debut at the Tour last week, just a year after winning the Giro d’Italia.

Jai Hindley in the yellow jersey after winning stage five of the Tour de France, and (inset) as a young, ambitious rider.

Jai Hindley in the yellow jersey after winning stage five of the Tour de France, and (inset) as a young, ambitious rider.Credit: Reuters/Jodie Craig

Although he’d been largely overlooked as a prospect at the Giro, Hindley famously said six days out from the finale, “I’m not here to put socks on centipedes,” when this masthead asked if he could become the first Australian to win the Grand Tour; a colloquialism he reiterated after celebrating a solo victory on stage five of Le Tour on Wednesday to earn the famous yellow jersey for a day.

Relatively unknown in France before that result, the 27-year-old’s win piqued the interest of French journalists, who are now asking all about the type of person he is and the backstory of his career.

“I’m left-handed from Perth, Western Australia. I love racing my bike. I love being in Europe, racing in Europe, the European culture. I also love going back home to Australia when I can,” Hindley quipped. “I enjoy smashed avo on toast, like every other Aussie. A flat white. You know, just all the standard things, mate.”

Similarly, to the 2022 Giro, many pundits only a week into the Tour are overlooking the climber and calling the fight for the yellow jersey a two-man race between defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and two-time winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates), who responded in style a day after being blindsided by Hindley. Pogacar won stage six in the Pyrenees, ahead of Vingegaard, who assumed the yellow jersey, with Hindley unable to follow the pair over the Tourmalet, dropping to third on general classification.

Hindley didn’t quantify how he would constitute if his Tour debut was successful in the lead-up to the race, but he has paid a hefty price to be competitive, sacrificing all aspects of his life unrelated to cycling.

And Australia’s only Tour winner, Cadel Evans, has advised others not to focus on his results, but to see what he was capable of.

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Bora-hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk is already a happy boss, following Hindley’s triumph in Laruns, even though the German-registered squad had hoped to keep him in yellow until Sunday, when the Tour returns to the high mountains.

“The goal was to win a stage, we did already on stage five, it was a really, really nice add-on; the yellow jersey,” Denk said.

“We showed a strong commitment for the podium and that’s good for us.

“I believe he can finish on the podium. But to win the race? Two guys are better. They are in a different league.”

Certainly, Vingegaard, with his highly drilled and tactically masterful team, and the Slovenian Pogacar, who won his first Tour on debut in 2020, are something else. The 110th edition of the Tour, which has marked a much moree difficult start to previous years, is already vintage and many title contenders – including Hindley’s compatriot Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroen) – have either crashed out or declared themselves out of the running.

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“Hold on. That’s going to be the rest of my race here at the Tour,” said O’Connor, who won a stage and finished fourth on his debut in 2021.

“I’m not good enough to win this race, and I lost already some time, so I just have to take it day by day and if the chance comes maybe, but I’m not dancing away from Jonas any time soon.”

But it’s too soon to discount Hindley, who after stage seven on Friday trailed Vingegaard by one minute and 34 seconds and had a handy 1:40 advantage on Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula), who was fourth on the overall standings. Pogacar was second overall – a mere 25 seconds adrift of the race leader.

It wasn’t the plan for Hindley to be in the breakaway on stage five, and the day before he’d in fact outlined a conservative approach for the first high mountain stages of the Tour, saying he planned to show himself in the third and final week. But when the opportunity to take time on his rivals presented itself on a route he knew well, he seized it.

Bora-hansgrohe coach Hendrik Werner spent a five-to-six week reconnaissance mission on the road with Hindley in preparation for the Tour, talking, training and studying it, not just for the opening term but stages 15, 16 and 17, too.

Australians riding in this year’s Tour

  • Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious)
  • Jai Hindley (Bora-hansgrohe)
  • Nick Schultz (Israel-Premier Tech)
  • Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech)
  • Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny)
  • Alex Edmondson (Team DSM-Firmenich)
  • Chris Hamilton (Team DSM-Firmenich)
  • Sam Welsford (Team DSM-Firmenich)
  • Matthew Dinham (Team DSM-Firmenich)
  • Luke Durbridge (Jayco-Alula)
  • Chris Harper (Jayco-Alula)
  • Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroen)

Werner has worked with Hindley since the latter joined Bora-hansgrohe last season, but first met him when they were both at team Sunweb. The athlete he was then to now is, by all accounts, different.

“He arrived in our team as a good bike rider but not as a winner,” Denk said.

Wearing the Tour de France yellow jersey, Jai Hindley is congratulated by his mum, Robyn.

Wearing the Tour de France yellow jersey, Jai Hindley is congratulated by his mum, Robyn.

Werner identifies Hindley’s ability to recover quickly, his instinct and natural leadership qualities to part of his development, and the pair have also worked on sharpening his strengths as well as his time trialling.

“It’s outstanding how much he can recover compared to others,” Werner said.

“He’s a real racer and knows when to put resources and when to better save them. I think he can show something in some of the finals to come.

“I wasn’t aware of his leadership skills,” Werner continued. “That’s something we didn’t work on, but it happened naturally.

“[With] the group we had in the Giro d’Italia last year [there] was not too many riders, let’s say, taking all the attention; always want to say something or be in the spotlight and take all the room. I think it was a safe environment for him [Hindley] to stand up, but it was not just standing up because leadership, for me, is not about the privileges you have, rather [it’s about] servitude to others.

“And he, in his servitude, proved to the others somehow in a natural way [that] not just came back, but he gave so much confidence to the group. In this certain moment when it was all about him, he stood up and showed confidence in himself.

Jai Hindley’s his personal cheer squad at the Tour de France, including parents Gordon and Robyn.

Jai Hindley’s his personal cheer squad at the Tour de France, including parents Gordon and Robyn.

“I would never have expected that he’s that strong and skilled as a leader. I think that really made quite some development and gave him quite a position in the team.”

Hindley’s parents, Gordon and Robyn, followed the Tour for the first week and were roadside when he attacked on the last climb of stage five from the remnants of a large breakaway in a move of signature conviction and strength that may yet see him land on the podium in Paris.

Gordon, originally from England and passionate about cycling since his own youth, recalled how their youngest son’s passion for recreational family rides quickly escalated into club races, a move to Europe and now the Tour.

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“The only reason I thought that he could do it was because he never wavered,” Gordon said.

“He had 12 months playing rugby, and we had to let him do that because it was with his friends. All his friends, they all played rugby, but when I said to him, ‘When you sign up you play for the full year, you can’t let the guys down and pull out halfway through,’ he said, ‘I promise I’ll play the full year,’ and he did. And then as soon as that year had finished, he came to us, and he said I want to go back to cycling. I went, ‘That’s my boy!’.”

Hindley’s living his dream at the Tour, and as he’s already shown, he certainly isn’t here to put socks on centipedes.

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