Hindley confirms Giro role alongside Pellizzari: 'We're both going for it'

Hindley won the Giro in 2022 when he began the race on the same pegging as Wilco Kelderman and Emanuel Buchmann, and he combined well with Pellizzari on last year’s Vuelta a España, finishing fourth in Madrid while the Italian took sixth.

“We’re both here as leaders and both going for it,” Hindley told CyclingPro.net at the Giro team presentation on Wednesday.

“We have a super good team and I’m really confident with the guys that we have. We will try riding like that, to have two guys in the GC for as long as possible and see how it works out.”

On taking over as Red Bull’s chief of sports during the winter, Zak Dempster outlined that the squad would employ dual leaders at the Grand Tours in 2026. As with Hindley and Pellizzari at the Giro, Remco Evenepoel will combine with Florian Lipowitz at the Tour de France.

“I think the team’s been quite consistent this year,” Hindley said. “If you look at the stage races, there’s more or less always been someone on the podium and we’ve been going with multiple guys to each race. I think it’s worked pretty well, so it’s just about managing that and managing the race tactics.”

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) will start the Giro as the strong favourite to claim overall victory and complete a full set of Grand Tour victories, but Hindley expressed optimism that having a co-leader will help keep the Red Bull duo in the hunt.

“I think it’s always nice, honestly, to have numbers there in the final in a GC group,” he said. “It’s much better than being on your own, having another guy in the jersey there is a big help. To have the numbers is a big benefit for the team, I’d say.”

Hindley, who turned 30 on Tuesday, is in the final year of his existing contract with Red Bull, having joined the team ahead of the 2022 season. He placed 17th at the Volta a Catalunya in March before spending time at Mount Teide ahead of the Ardennes Classics.

“It was a solid run-in,” Hindley said of his build-up. “I did a solid camp in Tenerife. I was a bit sick after the Ardennes, but nothing too serious and I’m ready to go.”