No FEAR OF HARD YAKKA

Despite claiming his maiden Giro d'Italia victory last year, Jai Hindley tells Chris Marshall-Bell that he still feels he has something to prove

When Jai Hindley meets strangers who have no idea what winning a maglia rosa at the Giro d’Italia entails or means, he has a tactic to prevent the otherwise inevitable barrage of follow-up questions and sycophancy. “In Australia I tend to tell people that I work in advertising for a German company,” he laughs.

In a roundabout way, the Australian does – professional cycling is one big marketing circus, and Hindley happens to be riding for a German team, BoraHansgrohe, that promotes kitchens and bathroom fittings.

But a marketing offie is not where Hindley spends a large chunk of his time; instead, he’s usually found training or racing for six hours a day, steadily progressing over the last few years into a Grand Tour winner. Not that you’ll hear the 26-year-old, selfeffacing Aussie talking himself up.

“I’m just pretty laid back, pretty chilled,” is how describes himself as he walks through the Austrian Alps with Cycling Weekly. He’s now a superstar on the bike, but off it he’s not one for courting attention.

He summarises the Australian public’s reaction to him winning last year’s Giro as being “alright, yeah, pretty nice, I suppose”, the sort of understated responses that have come to define him. He had a homecoming in Perth after September’s World Championships which was, again, “pretty nice”. He’s keen to stress, though, that “it wasn’t the crowds you’ve seen in Belgium or Denmark. Just a lot of people from the cycling community.” He reverts to type. “It was pretty nice. Pretty cool,” he smiles.