Tour de France 2023: Giro champion Jai Hindley says course is as good as it gets

Jai Hindley created history when he became Australia’s first Giro d’Italia winner last year. Now he has Tour de France glory in his sights, writes Simeon Thomas-Wilson.

Jai Hindley after winning the 2022 Giro. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

If Jai Hindley gets to wear a yellow jersey at the Tour de France he already knows what he will do with it.

Days after the 27-year-old from Perth created history when he won the 2022 Giro d’Italia – the second Australian cyclist to win a Grand Tour after Cadel Evans – Hindley booked in a tour at the Madonna dei Ciclisti museum that sits atop the Madonna del Ghisallo above the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy.

As well as the museum the Ghisallo contains a shrine to the patroness of cyclists.

Hindley had ventured up the Ghisallo and visited the Madonna dei Ciclisti museum when he visited Europe as part of a development team his dad Gordon established to give young Perth cyclists a chance.

The medals, jerseys and images of past champions caught the eye of the cycling history lover that is Hindley, although he did have a crack at rugby but was too small.

Especially the wall of pink jerseys (the maglia rosa) of former Giro riders.

Now that he had a pink jersey of his own, well two and a time trial skin suit, after his stunning Giro win in Hindley made the decision to add his to the collection.

Jai Hindley celebrates on the podium with the Trofeo Senza Fine as overall race winner after the 2022 Giro d'Italia. Picture: Getty Images

Despite recently claiming one of the biggest prizes in cycling, Hindley went and bought his own ticket for the museum and even when he first approached the staff to donate one of his pink jerseys they still didn’t realise for a second who was in front of them.

“They just had this really cool exhibition of a lot of the pink jerseys from over the years and signed by the winners,” Hindley said.

“And I just thought that was super cool and subconsciously I had this idea to give them a jersey while we were staying at this hotel.

“I didn’t have many, I had two and the skin suit so I just thought it was a pretty cool thing to do to just give this museum a jersey and I thought they could put it on the wall and that would be it.

“But the ladies at the reception were super excited when I gave them the jersey and they made this big fuss and everything.

“They wanted me to put it on the wall, they took a whole bunch of photos. It was really cool.”

Jai Hindley and Cadel Evans are the only Australians in history to win a Grand Tour. Picture: Alan Barber

Hindley is hoping to return to the museum to donate a different coloured jersey, the yellow of the Tour de France.

“For sure if I have a maillot jaune (yellow jersey) then I would also give one to the museum definitely,” he said.

“I have my own goals and personal ambitions, it would be like a dream to be on the Tour podium one day.

“That’s not easily done or happens overnight but that is a real long-term goal of mine.”

His first ever crack at the biggest race in the world, which begins in less than a month, might be his best chance of realising this goal.

This year’s Tour kicks off in the hilly Basque Country and quickly enters the Pyrenees with the dreaded and iconic Col du Tourmalet in the first week.

This plus just the one individual time-trial, and even that almost suits the fine climber that Hindley is.

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“I think this year’s route is as good as it gets for a rider like me,” he said.

“With quite a lot of climbing, especially after the first week so the GC should be quite established after a few days of racing and there is only one time-trial which is also not super long and quite lumpy.

“So for me when I saw the route I was really quite excited and really keen.”

While he comes into the race as a debutant, albeit one of the most decorated ever, Hindley has been installed as high as fourth favourite with some bookies.

But if he is to follow in Evans’ lead and be atop the podium when the race finishes in Paris he will need to upstage Slovenian phenom Tadej Pogacar and Denmark’s reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard.

Pogacar was on fire in the Classics season earlier on in the year but suffered a fractured wrist in April and has only just returned to the road as he seeks to reclaim his Tour crown.

Vingegaard hasn’t raced in two months after a dominant showing at the Tour of the Basque Country.

(L-R) Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar are the two favourites for the 2023 Tour de France race. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Hindley said he was just focusing on himself.

“I think as we’ve seen with Pogacar he is pretty phenomenal, he doesn’t have a few weaknesses if any so I try to just focus on my own preparation and my own training and everything else,” Hindley said.

“I don’t really worry about what the other guys are doing and when we get to the race it is how it is in the race.”

After coming off a stint in altitude in Andorra and from a training camp with his German team Bora-Hansgrohe Hindley will test himself against Vingegaard at the upcoming Criterium du Dauphine.

“It’s the last big dance before the Tour. It would be nice to get there and give it a good crack,” he said.

“For sure, it’s going to be a tough race, super high level.

“Basically, half the peloton or more is coming from altitude, so it’s going to be really tough. It will give a good idea of who’s going to be moving good when the Tour comes around.”

Normally those eyeing off the general classification at the Tour come in to the race slightly short of their best so they can peak later on in the three-week race.

But the hard start this year’s Tour contains means Hindley is looking at doing something different.

Jai Hindley celebrating at the Giro. Picture: Getty Images

“It could be a bit different to what we usually see in the first week at the tour. There are some really hard stages,” he said.

“The three stages in the Basque Country will be really solid and hard

“And the first stage is pretty much like a one day race so it will be really tough and then stages five and six you already have proper GC days in my opinion with some really hard climbs.

“Stage six you are already doing the Tourmalet in the first week so it is pretty serious, but I’m looking forward to it

“I think it is better to get there in really good form and be ready to go from day one rather than trying to build into it throughout the race.

“I think it’s always good to be ready to go from day one.”

Before Hindley tasted success at the 2022 Giro, he finished second in 2020 after leading the race going into the final stage.

But still he flies under the radar when he returns to Australia.

“In Perth when I was riding about in the city I got recognised a fair bit, but nothing out of the ordinary I would say,” he said.

“It is pretty nice. I’m not the guy who looks for all the media attention and spotlight so for me it is all good to keep it low key if you know what I mean.

“And in Australia, cycling is not the biggest sport, so it is actually quite nice to come back and chill out and live low key.”

If he comes away from this year’s Tour with a yellow jersey, the days of Hindley keeping it low key at the Madonna dei Ciclisti and back home in Australia will be a thing of the past.