'A lot of tired boys out there': Hindley's consistency secures Giro podium
Jonas Vingegaard's dominance was never in doubt on this Giro d'Italia and Felix Gall was always second best in the mountains, but Jai Hindley rode a consistent race to secure his first Grand Tour podium finish since he won the Trofeo Senza Fine in 2022.
Jai Hindley has done enough to secure third overall at the Giro d’Italia, claiming his first podium finish at a Grand Tour since he won this race four years ago.
The Australian has been a consistent performer across this Giro, and he continued in that vein on the climb to Piancavallo on stage 20, where he came home in third place, 1:15 down on maglia rosa Jonas Vingegaard (Visma| Lease a Bike).
Hindley sagely didn’t follow when Vingegaard launched his stage-winning attack with 10.6km remaining, but he rode strongly in the company of Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) on the upper portion of the ascent, catching Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA GCM) in the process.
“It was a super hard day,” Hindley told reporters. “I was pretty tired after yesterday, to be honest, but I think I wasn’t the only one. There was a lot of tired boys out there…”
Hindley began the day just over a minute off Gall’s second place overall, but he was unable to shake off the Austrian in the closing kilometres here. “I mean, it was in my mind, but the legs had a different story, I’ll say...” Hindley smiled.
Hindley returns to the Giro podium
No matter, Hindley will finish third overall, 6:25 behind Vingegaard, and he will stand on the podium of the Giro for the third time on Sunday after placing second to Tao Geoghegan Hart in 2020 and winning the race overall in 2022.
In the intervening period, Hindley has placed seventh overall on his Tour de France debut in 2023, where he also wore yellow and won a stage, and he took fourth overall on last year’s Vuelta a España.
He is currently in the final year of his contract with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and he has been linked with a move to Visma for 2027. Hindley began this Giro as Red Bull’s co-leader alongside Giulio Pellizzari, but the Italian’s GC challenge collapsed on stage 16 to Carì.
“There’s still one day to go, but it’s really nice,” Hindley said of his podium finish. “I haven’t done a done a result in a Grand Tour in a while, so it’s really nice to be fighting for the podium again coming close in the Vuelta last year.
“For me the Grand Tours are the pinnacles of cycling and to be competitive at them is what I ride my bike for.”
Result: Giro d'Italia stage 20
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