Tour of Fuzhou winner Jai Hindley was snapped up by Team Sunweb after finishing second in the Herald Sun Tour ahead of Chris Froome and Esteban Chaves in February, but he won’t be racing on Australian roads in the early part of 2018 due to his recent, late-season commitments with Mitchelton-Scott in China.
The 21-year-old Hindley has enjoyed a busy 2017 season. In early January, he fought for a national title and a spot on the Australian national team at the Santos Tour Down Under, before riding strongly in Europe in spring and summer, and then winning a UCI 2.1 stage race in China in mid-November.
“I’ve had a pretty good first half of the season this year, I had decent results and I carried some good form,” Hindley told Cyclingnews. “In the second half, I got a bit tired, maybe I overdid it a little bit in the training.”
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Hindley’s “decent results” in Europe included the overall victory at the under-23 Terra Toscana stage race in April and third place (plus one stage win) at the amateur Giro d’Italia in June. He finished tenth in the Tour de l’Avenir one year after being fifth overall. “I got sick on the rest day,” he explained. “I wasn’t in my greatest condition, I guess. It was a bit disappointing but we were trying to help Lucas [Hamilton] go onto the podium and he did really well [fourth].”
National teams at the Tour de l’Avenir are difficult to manage because of the personal interests of young riders, all trying to turn professional, but the two potential leaders for Australia had already penned contracts by August, as Hamilton signed with Orica-Scott and Hindley with Sunweb.
“It was a relief to get the contract sealed early and not have to worry about trying to sort that stuff out late in the season,” the Perth native said. “It was really nice. Sunweb saw the Sun Tour results and they contacted me after that.
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