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The 2022 Giro d’Italia winner is deep in specific preparation for the Tour de France, having completed reconnaissance of the early stages and an altitude camp leading into his final preparation race, the Critérium du Dauphiné.
The Dauphiné is a significant event for most of the contenders heading to the French Grand Tour each year, with last season’s second-placed finisher Jonas Vingegaard (behind Jumbo-Visma teammate Primoz Roglic) going on to win his maiden Tour de France title. Hindley is making his first attempt at the race, leading into his first assault on the Tour de France.
“It’s pretty important,” said Hindley in an interview with SBS Sport. “It’s the last big dance before the Tour. It would be nice to get there and give it a good crack.
"For sure, it’s going to be a tough race, super high level. Basically, half the peloton or more is coming from altitude, so it’s going to be really tough. It will give a good idea of who’s going to be moving good when the Tour comes around.”
The 27-year-old Western Australian rider is somewhat of a Grand Tour specialist, his best results remain finishing first and second at the 2022 and 2020 Giros d’Italia, respectively, whereas he has only achieved a podium finish once at a lower-level WorldTour one-week stage race, finishing second at the 2019 Tour of Poland.
“I think one-week races, mate, they’re just too short, it’s not enough time to get going you know,” Hindley said half-jokingly. “Nah, I don’t know, it just a different style of racing to a Grand Tour.
“In a Grand Tour, you’re conservative with your energy, very calculated. Maybe in a week-long race, you don’t have to be so calculated, you can just go all-in every day.
“It is a bit of a different style I’d say. I definitely enjoy three-week races more than one-week or one-day, but it’s all just a bit of a dress rehearsal for the Tour I’d say.”
That preference may count against Hindley, but in other respects, he remains ready to go in his first major contest against the likes of Vingegaard ahead of the showdown in France.
Hindley's form this year has been solid rather than spectacular, but past seasons have shown that Hindley's peaks are more impressive than the rest of the year and the Dauphiné should reveal his progression towards those heights.
There are a number of hilly Dauphiné stages and a 31.1-kilometre time trial before the final three days of competition are over the high mountains of the Alps, a stern test for Tour de France hopefuls.
“All the hilly GC days are going to be a really good test,” Hindley said. “Also the time trial, it’s long-ish, and I’ve been doing a fair bit of work on the TT bike at altitude. So, it will be good to test the legs.”
The final stage of the Dauphiné concludes with a 1.8-kilometre climb to the Bastille fort in Grenoble, averaging a whopping 14.2% gradient. “Yeah mate, bloody tough”, was the only comment Hindley had on the incredibly difficult finish to the week’s racing.
“The level in general will be really high and we’ll be flying around.”
Watch the Critérium du Dauphiné June 4-11 on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand with all eight stages live and free, and replays plus highlights also available the following morning.
