At the turn of the month, Jai Hindley was finally back home in Perth, catching up with friends and family in person for the first time since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic almost three years ago. The new season was already tugging at his sleeve, however, and the week seemed to pass in an instant. On Monday, the defending Giro d'Italia champion was back on duty in Milan for the presentation of the 2023 route.
"I went back to Perth for nine days after the Worlds, which was pretty sweet, but time just flew by," Hindley said after the lights went up at the Teatro Lirico. "Before I knew it, I was on the plane back to Europe, starting the preparations for next year, and then coming here and talking about next year. It already feels like we're in 2023, but I'm looking forward to it."
Hindley's race programme for next season has yet to be sketched out, and much will surely depend on the configuration of the Tour de France route, due to be unveiled in Paris on October 27. Bora-Hansgrohe have already held a preliminary planning meeting for the new campaign, but directeur sportif Enrico Gasparotto told Cyclingnews that no decision had been made about Hindley's Grand Tour plans.
"I haven't made up my mind, and we haven't had too many discussions about next year already with the team, so it's hard to say," Hindley said when asked if he would return to the Giro or opt to make his Tour debut.
"Ultimately, it will come down to what the Tour route is like a bit and then we'll see from that. But it's also something to go into the Giro as defending champ, I've never done that before so that's also a big factor."
The honour of wearing number 1 is not the only compelling reason for Hindley to opt for the Giro. There is also the prospect of a Grande Partenza in Abruzzo, where he spent a formative few months as an amateur back in 2015, and a summit finish at Campo Imperatore, where he won on the Baby Giro two years later.
"Whenever I go back there and I smell the arrosticini on the road, it sort of reminds me of home a bit," Hindley said. On the other hand, the sheer volume of time trialling – 70.6km in total, distributed across three stages – might serve to discourage his participation.
"That's probably three more than I would like," Hindley smiled when asked about the trio of time trials. "But it's not me organising the route, so I just take it as it comes. There were three time trials in 2020 and I was still second, and I think I'm also a bit better at time trialling since then. I'll continue to work at it and try to make it more of a strength. For sure, it's not ideal for me, but you can't always get what you want."
The flat opening time trial to Ortona and the 30km test to Cesena at the end of the opening week certainly don't play to Hindley's strengths, but he was more enthused by the mountain time trial to Monte Lussari on the penultimate day.
"That time trial at the end, I like the look of that. Uphill time trials have sort of been forgotten about over the years and they're actually pretty cool," said Hindley of a stage that will be all the tougher because it comes just 24 hours after the tappone over the Valparola, Giau and Tre Croci to Tre Cime di Lavaredo.
"If you run out of legs in the final TT, that could cost you the race. I think those two stages, coming on the back of the three weeks, will be pretty crucial. It's like every year on the Giro, those are the stages where guys can come unstuck. This year will be no different. This will be a race of attrition and you either have it or you don't in the last few days."
While Hindley mulls over the prospect of defending his Giro title, the time trial-heavy route seems to lend itself to a challenge from world champion Remco Evenepoel, who was such a dominant winner at the Vuelta a España.
"I think it doesn't matter where he starts, he's always a contender and always a threat," said Hindley, who placed 10th in Spain. "He fully deserved that win in the Vuelta. it was a pretty big display he put on. All three Grand Tours are pretty tough. You can't win them by accident."
Hindley knows that better than most.
