Jai Hindley may have parked his personal ambitions at the Tour de France this season with the arrival of Primož Roglič at Bora-Hansgrohe, but team staff are confident the Australian will win one of cycling’s big three Grand Tours again.
Sports Director Enrico Gasparotto has followed Hindley’s rise at the squad, from helping to guide him to a seventh-place finish in a crash-marred Tour de France debut last season, to winning the Giro d’Italia in 2022.
“Absolutely yes,” Gasparotto says. “Second in the Giro [in 2020], he won Giro, last year could have been way better than what it was, so if he doesn’t have accidents or problems in a big tour, for sure, he can do it again. When? Hopefully soon, and hopefully with Bora!”
Hindley is out of contract at the end of this year but instead of returning to the Giro or insisting on a more protected role, he has opted to line up at the Tour with an “open mind” in support of Roglič. The Grand Tours are the epitome of racing for Hindley, but he also has an eye to the Olympic Games in Paris this year and the World Championships in Switzerland.
“I would definitely love to do the Worlds, I think that would be a really cool race, and also the Olympics,” Hindley says.
“It’s not the easiest team to make, they don’t have the most spots and we’ve also got some really good guys who will also put their hand up, but in the end it’s a pretty unique race, I would say, the Olympics.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a big bunch sprint; I don’t think it’s going to be a reduced bunch sprint. I think it will be, like, a real dog fight, and small teams and a super long day. It’s going to be epic, and after the Tour, so for sure I will put my hand up for it.
“It’s not every day you get to do the Olympics and I’ve never done it, so I would definitely love to.”
Gasparotto admits he was surprised there were not any murmurs of disquiet from Hindley or teammate Aleksandr Vlasov when Roglič’s transfer from Visma-Lease a Bike and his automatic Tour appointment was announced to the team late last year.
“I also expected some discussion or some arguments about it but there was really zero,” Gasparotto says.
If there were any gains to be made from the Tour last year, the 42-year-old believes it rests largely here, in leadership and direction. Hindley’s feedback that…
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