Hindley had to improvise in crazy Tour stage: "This was definitely not the plan"

"This was definitely not the plan," says the Australian rider, who surprisingly joined an early breakaway of 36 riders. "It was a matter of improvising, simply enjoying the ride. Suddenly, I found myself up front, but I was having so much fun," he said with a big smile.

In the end, it resulted in a double victory, with Hindley holding a little over half a minute ahead of the charging Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma. "It's unbelievable. I really have no words for this, really," said Hindley, who didn't immediately realize he could also take the yellow jersey. "They were shouting in the car that I had to keep riding, but I couldn't hear them clearly. To now have the yellow jersey and win, that's really cool," he said, smiling ear to ear.

And so, in his first Tour de France, he hit the ground running. "I didn't know what to expect, because it's my first Tour. So, I couldn't start off with ambitions that were too big, but I just wanted to be competitive," the BORA-hansgrohe team leader stated, before appearing to gather his thoughts. "Mate, I just won a stage in the Tour, that's incredible."

When asked to whom he would dedicate this victory, the Aussie quickly had an answer. "This one is for my family; they have always supported me throughout my career," said the winner of the 2022 Giro d'Italia.