Jai Hindley had designs on showing himself in the final week of the Tour de France, with a view to competing for the podium in his race debut, but that is a plan crash-related injuries have now scuppered
Hindley hurt his back and suffered from a hematoma when he crashed at an estimated 60km/h at the beginning of stage 14 last week and was still feeling the effects of the heavy fall when the Tour resumed after the second rest day with a decisive time trial.
The 27-year-old had spent five to six weeks on the road before the with Bora-Hansgrohe coach Hendrik Werner preparing for the Tour, with one of their specific areas of focus being the time trial.
While Hindley maintained his fifth place on the general classification in the race against the clock, he lost time in the hilly 22.4km route, finishing 25th. He was four minutes and 37 seconds behind stage winner Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), who annihilated the field, putting more than a minute into his nearest title rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
Before the crash, the Perth climber was third overall, having won stage five in the Pyrenees to assume the maillot jaune for a day, with a very healthy margin on ‘the rest’ of the competition. He was keen to delve into the Alps, having physically reconned select stages and also knowing he generally gets better the further into a Grand Tour he rides.
Hindley admitted he was sore whenever he got out of the saddle after the fall on stage 14, which Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) won to bump him from third on the general classification. By the end of a triple-header in the Jura and Alps to round out the second phase of the race, he couldn’t walk properly, according to team manager Ralph Denk, despite sticking with the yellow jersey group until the closing kilometres on the Mont Blanc summit finish.
Pogacar’s teammate Adam Yates moved into third overall after Tuesday’s time trial that saw massive gaps established on the overall standings, with Wednesday’s queen stage to Courchevel expected to shake it down even further. Yates now trails Vingegaard by 8:52, with Rodriguez fourth at 8:57 and Hindley fifth at 11:15.
The 2022 Giro d’Italia winner declined to speak to media after the finish of the time trial in Combloux, where he briefly conferred with Bora-Hansgrohe team staff during a cool-down.
Bora-Hansgrohe sports director Enrico Gasparotto virtually scoffed when it was put to him post-race that Hindley appeared disappointed.
“I mean obviously he came to the Tour to try to do podium then that crash happened and it didn’t help at all, and from that point on his performance has dropped completely down,” Gasparotto said.
“Today we obviously all could see his face, for sure he’s not the most happy person today, but I think also we could see some signals of that already Sunday, if you ask me, because he arrived completely cooked at the finish.
“The good thing of all of this situation is that there is a reason why he dropped down in performances – that’s the crash. To hit the ground at 60km/h when you are 61kg for sure that impacts the performance.
“What is happening is all related to the crash.”
Gasparotto, who worked with Hindley during his Giro win last year, couldn’t say what the team’s plan would be for remaining five days of the race, and whether his leader would continue to try and protect his position on general classification, considering his injuries.
“Before today we said we’ll take it day by day,” Gasparotto said.“Now he did the TT, we lost quite a lot. Tomorrow is the queen stage of this Tour de France, but we’ll see. We’ll have to sit together, talk together and find a plan.”
