Jai Hindley submits Tour de France application to Evenepoel and Lipowitz

The team’s July structure has been taking shape around Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz, who have just completed a three week altitude camp in Sierra Nevada.

Evenepoel has not raced since Liège-Bastogne-Liège and is following a plan built around precision rather than race rhythm. He won't race again before the Tour. Lipowitz, by contrast, will still pin on a number before Barcelona, with the Tour of Slovenia next on his programme.

Hindley made clear that he is happy to support both of them.

“Originally there was talk of me doing the Tour to support a couple big dogs there,” Hindley said to CyclingPro.net after completing the Giro. “I would really love to do the Tour with the team that we take there. I think it would be really cool actually to be part of that squad. But we’ll see how it is after this.”

Hindley was not asking for the keys to Red Bull’s Tour team as he knows where the hierarchy points. But a Giro podium is a powerful reminder of what he could bring to July: another proven Grand Tour rider, and one willing to work.

That is what makes his case interesting. Grand Tours leave a mark, even when a rider comes out of them smiling. Hindley spent three weeks fighting for the podium in Italy, while also managing illness during the second week. He needed antibiotics, but still recovered enough to hold his race together and finish third.

For many riders, that would make a Tour start a stretch. Hindley, however, sounded more open than cautious.

“I didn’t do so many races before the Giro,” he said. “Honestly, I’m pretty tired, but I feel fresher than I ever have done at the end of a Giro, surprisingly. Maybe that helped to be a bit fresher here. I think it also would be good to combine it with the Tour. If I have a week on the couch and then try and start training again, I think it can be nice to do the Tour.”

Unlike several other teams, Red Bull’s Tour de France selection is still not locked in. Evenepoel’s altitude group has included Maxim Van Gils, Jan Tratnik and Gianni Vermeersch, while Primož Roglič has also been present in Sierra Nevada.

The team has kept its Tour plans open for much of the season and is expected to name its final eight riders on June 26, just over a week before the race starts in Barcelona.

Team director Patxi Vila told La Dernière Heure that a place in the altitude group does not automatically mean a place on the Tour team.

“It is not certain that they will all be at the start of the Tour,” Vila said. “Other riders will still join the training camp soon.”

Hindley, meanwhile, has made his case on the road. He survived illness, defended a podium and left the Giro sounding tired, but not emptied.