Flying Jai
It’s surprising, considering Australia’s cycling heritage and sports mad culture, that this year saw the country’s highest ever finish at the Giro d’Italia. The adulation for a second, unexpected British winner in Tao Geoghegan Hart and the excitement of seeing Portugal’s João Almeida spend a couple of weeks in the pink jersey, meant that the achievement of another young rider, Jai Hindley, got lost in the noise.
Aged 24, in a pandemic-hit season, in a spring race taking place in October, at only his second Giro, Hindley did something that no Australian has ever managed before. By finishing second in Milan, he bettered his more renowned peers. Richie Porte, Phil Anderson and even Cadel Evans never finished as high as the second step in the Giro. Hindley is only the third Australian to ever make it onto a grand tour podium, after Evans and Porte. It’s the best Australian grand tour result since Evans’ Tour win in 2011.
“It still feels like a dream,” Hindley tells “It’s pretty crazy. It was something that I never thought would happen in my wildest dreams, especially at the beginning of this year.” Before the pandemic stopped racing, Hindley tasted his first GC success, winning the Herald Sun Tour in February. When we spoke to him for a Q&A in the first
