As only the second Australian in history to win a Grand Tour, Hindley’s 2022 Giro victory thrust him into the international spotlight and has had fans and competitors alike wondering which races will be the 26-year-old’s top goals in 2023.
Speaking from the Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide this week on the , Hindley revealed he is building this year’s season around his debut Tour de France, providing all goes well in the lead-up.
After opening his season in Australia with the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Road Race, the proud Perth local will head straight back to Europe to race some one-day to one-week-long events before the biggest goals of the year.
“Maybe Algarve in Portugal,” Hindley said when asked about his upcoming race schedule, “Maybe Tirreno Adriatico, the Ardennes, Basque Country, hopefully Dauphine, then yeah, full steam for the Tour would be the ideal plan. So we’ll see how it’s all going for that.
"But yeah, it would be a dream come true to do the Tour.”
Hindley’s plans allow flexibility while providing a focused and solid build toward his Tour ambitions in July.
“I wouldn’t mind having a good crack at Basque Country, it’s a pretty tough race. It would be nice to go there with some real ambition,” Hindley said, elaborating.
“After that, I’ll do an altitude camp. Then I’ll do Dauphine. And then normally back up to altitude again, right before the Tour.
"We’ve discussed it with the coaches here, the team, and the DSs as well. I think that’s a pretty nice program, to be honest.”
In comparison to the preparation that went into his Giro win, Hindley said the biggest difference will be the change in timing, with the Tour coming two months later in the season. That, and the fact that strangely, as a professional road cyclist, he hasn’t raced much at all in France, something else he is really looking forward to with his first appearances in the Dauphine and the Tour de France.
“Since I’ve been a kid it’s just been my dream to actually race the Tour,” Hindley said.
“If you win the Giro there’s obviously a lot of expectation from the team, and from the outside world, and also from myself. I have a higher expectation of what I can achieve and everything like that.
“I think it would be a dream come true to be on the Tour podium one day. But yeah, it’s going to be a lot of work before that happens, so we’ll see how it goes. [I’m] more than excited to just line up actually, for the Grand Depart.”
Managing the stress and pressure of the Tour de France in comparison to the Giro will also be a major factor in how Hindley approaches the event. While the 26-year-old appears relaxed about his approach overall, he also has a lot to be optimistic about, with the 2023 Tour de France route suiting the dynamic climber well, with less flat time-trialling included.
“There’s quite a lot of hard stages,” Hindley said. “Quite a bit more climbing than last year, and only one time trial and it’s quite lumpy. So for me, it’s a really nice route in general.
“If we’re looking at the Tour, I don’t think the route really gets much better than that for a rider like me. Just the whole route in general is really nice, I think.
“I think the three stages in Spain in the Basque country for the Grand Depart will be really important. There’s some really tough roads there, and it’s always hard racing in the Basque country so I think you really need to be on your game from day one.”
SBS will broadcast the Tour de France 2023 in full with every stage LIVE and FREE on SBS and SBS On Demand.
