Perth’s Jai Hindley has dug deep to fight with the world’s best in a breathless elite men’s road race at the UCI World Championships in Kigali.
Hindley, 29, kept the ARA Australian Cycling Team in contention until late into one of the most brutal World Championship races in recent memory.
On the menu was 267 challenging kilometres with 5,475 metres of climbing at a relatively high altitude. The parcours consisted of 16 laps of the hilly Kigali circuit, broken up by one extended loop that took in the longer climb of Mont Kigali and the short and steep Mur de Kigali.
The Australian team signing on in Kigali. (Simon Wilkinson / SWpix.com)
There was one change to Australia’s starting line-up, with Damien Howson slotting in for an injured Chris Harper.
The race progressed steadily for the first four hours until the defending champion, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, attacked on Mont Kigali with 104km remaining.
Hindley climbed well to put himself among the first group of chasers. After the descent of the Mur de Kigali, he was joined by Jay Vine, Michael Matthews and Michael Storer to put four Australians in what was left of the peloton.
Michael Matthews climbed well over the Mur de Kigali to stay in the main peloton. (Chris Auld / SWpix.com)
Vine, a week after winning silver in the individual time trial and gold with Australia in the team time trial, began setting the pace. His efforts ate into the gap until he was forced to pull over, virtually stopping with cramp. Soon after, Matthews also was distanced.
What followed was a series of counter-attacks until a select chase group of just five of the strongest riders emerged, including Hindley. He was joined by Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark), Ben Healy (Ireland) and Tom Pidcock (Great Britain), forming a formidable quintet.
Hindley in the elite chasing group. (Chris Auld / SWpix.com)
With four laps and 60km to go, the West Australian led his group over the finish line, one minute behind the lone leader.
The chasers cooperated well until the next ascent of the steep cobbled climb, the Cote de Kimihurura, where Hindley finally reached his limit, unable to hold the pace. The Giro d'Italia winner rode solo over the next two laps, eventually slipping back to 16th place.
Fellow West Australian Michael Storer (now a member of Darwin Cycling Club) finished strongly to also secure a top-20 result.
Only 30 of the 165 starters completed the extremely selective race where more than nine minutes separated the top 10.
"It was lights out" - Jai Hindley. (Alex Whitehead / SWpix.com)
"Today was probably one of the hardest one-day races I ever did, I think," Hindley said. "It was brutal.
"I put myself in the mix. The guys also did a great job on the road. Unfortunately, I just exploded pretty hard, and it was lights out. But, that's also bike racing, and I have no regrets."
"We managed to have four guys there in the group after the big climb, which I think was a pretty good effort. We were right in the race. I think in general, we were pretty good today, tactically."
Hindley said it was "special" to represent Australia on the world stage.
"To race for your country, there's nothing better, you know what I mean? It never gets old and it's something that I look forward to every year. If I get the opportunity to do the Worlds with the Aussie team, it's one of the best weeks of the year. It's always a great group of people that you're working with; always great support," he said.
"So, really special feeling, and I'm super proud to race for the green and gold as always."
Results – Elite Men Road Race
🥇 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) 6:21:20
🥈 Remco Evenepoel (BEL) +1:28
🥉 Ben Healy (IRL) +2:16
16. Jai Hindley +10:01
19. Michael Storer +10:12
DNF. Michael Matthews (AUS)
DNF. Jay Vine (AUS)
DNF. Damien Howson (AUS)
DNF. Christopher Hamilton (AUS)
DNF. Callum Scotson (AUS)
DNF. Lucas Plapp (AUS)
Feature photo: Zac Williams / SWpix.com