One of the riders who had received the most attention, as for the last Tour de France, it was Jay Hindley. The Australian of Bora Hansgrohe, winner of the Giro d'Italia 2022, was expected at this important test. With Paolo Artuso, trainer of the German team, we had talked about the topic related to the racing days. So, looking at the Tour standings, which saw Hindley finish seventh overall, we counted the days of racing she had done. The Australian has put 40 days of racing in the bag before the Grande Boucle, compared to the smaller numbers of the other riders.
Departure from Australia
Hindley's calendar opened in January, from her home in Australia. Debut at the Schwalbe Classic and then return to the Tour Down Under, after a two-year absence. Until after winning the pink jersey, Hindley, he let himself go saying that he really missed home. Normal for a rider who hadn't been back to Australia for years, so in January, as soon as he could, he took a plane to Perth.
«He had expressed this desire to us right from the start – says Artuso – after all, he hadn't seen his family since before CovidWe have therefore decided to base the season on Australia and "modify" its preparation."
In what way?
No training camp with the team in January, but he did the five stages of the Tour Down Under (plus the Schwalbe Classic and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, ed.). In February he took a break, did a lot of training, and returned to racing in the Algarve.
But by starting so early, Hindley arrived at the Tour de France with 40 days of racing, double that of Vingegaard, Pogacar and Rodriguez…
I'll start by saying that we wouldn't change anything about Hidley's preparation. It was clear that his presence at the Tour could not be linked to an attempt at victory, the first two are on another level. The first one in particular (vingegaard, editor's note). The goal was to fight for the podium and until the fall it was in play.
Rodriguez, his direct rival for the podium, was the one who ran the least, 20 days.
His case is interesting, up until June he had only put together 11 days of running. Then he ended up on the podium Adam Yates, who ran more than RodriguezIf I had to name a name that surprised me, it would be him. But from this technical point of view, something important has been understood.
What?
That to perform at your best you need to arrive fresh both physically and mentally. The future is increasingly moving towards a rider who runs less and trains a lot, especially at altitude.In training, you're the one who manages your commitments, how and how hard you push, and all the other variables. In a race, you're more at the mercy of events.
So, starting so early didn't have a negative impact on Hindley?
In my opinion, no, on the contrary. Coming home did him good., he was certainly able to relieve stress and rest. Physically, not even that, because Jai's numbers were the same as last year's Giro. The level of racing in Australia was certainly not high., and he didn't reach his peak. We used the home run as a training run.
But then he went to the Vuelta Algarve, the Tirreno and the Catalunya, putting more effort into his legs than his opponents.
The only thing that could be done, perhaps, is to slightly recalibrate the appointmentsInitially he was supposed to race in the Basque Country, but the Catalunya route was more suitable and we decided to race there with him.
Last year he arrived at the Giro with 26 days of racing under his belt, certainly fresher and more rested…
Giro and Tour are totally different. The months preceding the Giro d'Italia are few and the approach route is almost unique.Not at the Tour, we saw just as many approaches in the top ten. Hindley arrived at the Tour ready, the numbers say it, everything is run to the limit and unexpected events happen. The fall certainly affected him., Rodriguez also suffered a bad fall, losing the chance to fight for the podium.
