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Paris-Nice and Tirreno Adriatico are the two key World Tour races for the vast majority of general classification contenders in their preparations for the Grand Tours. Coming out of the French and Italian races, Jai Hindley appears to be tracking significantly better than his team’s big off-season recruit Primož Roglič.
The question is whether Roglič should be handed full leadership of the BORA-hansgrohe team at the Tour de France given the differences between his and Hindley’s form?
The big move
Eyebrows were raised, lips were whistled and appetite was whet when the news broke of Primož Roglič’s off-season switch away from powerhouse squad Visma-Lease a Bike, with whom he had won four Grand Tours and finished on the podium on three other occasions.
Few were talking about the potential battle for leadership... well we were at SBS, but we obviously have an interest in the impact on Australia’s best Grand Tour rider since Cadel Evans.
Initial reaction to Roglic's move
Roglic at Bora 'only a positive' for Hindley, says Macka
Now the position appears more murky, after an inconsistent performance from Roglič at Paris-Nice saw him finish tenth overall, five minutes and 33 seconds behind winner Matteo Jorgenson, while Jai Hindley was third overall at a minute and 52 seconds behind a rampant Jonas Vingegaard.
Roglič was in fact overtaken by Aleksandr Vlasov as the team’s leader at the race, after working for the Slovenian rider for the first half of the race, he emerged as clearly stronger and was able to jump clear for a pain face-filled stage victory.
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Paris-Nice 2024 Mini Recap, Stage 7
episode • Paris-Nice 2024 • sport • 20m
episode • Paris-Nice 2024 • sport • 20m
A less impressive version of Roglič, or a blip?
Roglič was not his normal self in post-race interviews, almost with an enforced jollity. As editor for Australian content for the Tour de France, I’ve seen a few hundred Primož Roglič ‘classic’ interviews. He used to be really surly, deliberately boring and conservative in not saying anything, but in 2023 there was a bit of a loosening up, he’d joke a bit in an understated fashion.
This new, pasted-on grin adopted post Paris-Nice is not Roglič and neither was the way he raced. That he couldn’t go with the big moves that shaped the race is one thing, but he was also off the pace when it came to end-of-stage accelerations, his bread and butter, and he clearly struggled with conditions.
“It’s a completely new environment, new things. Also, my life doesn’t change if I win Paris-Nice, huh,” said Roglič. “It was my first race, obviously I really need it. It is a good race to build-up.”
When asked why he came off an altitude block without his customary ‘rocket-like’ form, the Slovenian manouevered around the question.
“There is a lot of rockets now, huh, I’m not the only one.”
The team has since changed Roglič’s races for the early season, adding in a number of Ardennes races to his calendar. It’s probably a good call, and it was a bit of a surprise that he was not targeting them initially. It’s also a late change, so you have to wonder if it’s another early warning sign.
Roglič is normally incredibly consistent. Prior to Paris-Nice 2024, he finished 3rd (Vuelta a Espana), 1st (Vuelta a Burgos), 1st (Giro d’Italia), 1st (Volta a Catalunya), 1st (Tirreno-Adriatico), DNF (Vuelta a Espana 2022), DNF (Tour de France 2022), 1st (Dauphine 2022), 8th (Basque Country 2022), 1st (Paris-Nice 2022), 1st Vuelta a Espana 2021), DNF (Tour de France 2021), 1st (Basque Country 2021), 15th (Paris-Nice 2021, due to late crashes after leading the race).
Is it a blip, or is a sign of a downturn in ability from a rider normally at the top of every race he competes in?
Hindley in career-best form?
On the other side of the Tyrrhenian Sea, Jai Hindley was also not matching expectations, but in a positive manner as he out-performed what he’s normally done in the lead-up stage races. In general the Western Australian rider is significantly better in Grand Tours than in one week stage races.
“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 in a pre-Tour de France 2023 interview with SBS Sport. “Nah, I don’t know, it’s just a different style of racing to a Grand Tour. It is a bit of a different style I’d say. I definitely enjoy three-week races more than one-week or one-day.”
He’s of course won the Giro d’Italia, finished second at the Giro, and looked on his way to the podium at the Tour de France before crashing and battling through to seventh overall. His World Tour race results are comparatively average, but encouragingly, he just achieved his best result in an early season World Tour stage race.
His third in Tirreno was really encouraging in the manner that he achieved the result, attacking to try and put the pressure on Jonas Vingegaard, confident in matching accelerations of others and looking to be cycling with the full confidence and backing of his team. Yes, he was a minute and 52 seconds behind Vingegaard, but the Danish rider is in a class of two along with Pogacar, particularly in the early season.
“I don't think we have any regrets,” said Hindley post-race. “We went all in yesterday and we gave it everything. And I mean, he was just on another level.
“So, it is what it is, but really happy with my personal performance and also the way the whole team rode, and the support we had this week was phenomenal. It was awesome.”
When will the focus shift away from Roglič only at the Tour de France? Hindley is confirmed to ride the race, along with Vlasov, but there wasn’t much wiggle room in the team announcements heading into 2024.
“We’ll have a single leader strategy: Roglič. But you have to have tactical options too,” BORA-hansgrohe team principal Rolf Aldag said of the decision to field both Hindley and Vlasov at the Tour de France.
“We cannot fool the world by saying we have six leaders. We have a common goal. But we will give opportunities to Jai and Alex too in other races.”
In the past BORA-hansgrohe has been flexible on the question of leadership, indeed Hindley’s biggest triumph came when he was part of three-rider leadership group, of which the Australian emerged the strongest to take the 2022 Giro d’Italia title.
Hopefully, it will be another instance of the strongest rider emerging on the road at the 2024 Tour de France, and not just an all-Roglič focus as previously indicated.
