The fact that Jai Hindley overturned Thymen Arensman for the Giro podium is a small miracle

Jai Hindley now looks set to go to Rome as the number three in this Giro d’Italia. The experienced Australian of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe was fourth in the Vuelta a España last year, so he was certainly counted among the podium contenders. But ahead of stage 20, Hindley stressed that his current position in the general classification could already be called a small miracle.

The 2020 Giro d’Italia winner is clearly back to his very best after going through some tough years between 2023 and 2025. Physically, things often went against him, and so Hindley no longer seemed to be at the level that once carried him to Giro victory and to a Tour de France stage win and the yellow jersey in 2023.

He hit back in last year’s Vuelta, and in this Giro he started extremely sharply. For almost the whole first week he was right up there, until he suddenly lost some time on day nine. In the time trial — on day ten after the second rest day — Hindley was clearly not himself. A day later, he admitted he had become ill, just like his teammate Giulio Pellizzari.

Hindley never went into detail in the second week, no doubt to avoid giving the competition any more information. In stage 14, with the finish at Pila, he was also simply third behind Jonas Vingegaard of Visma | Lease a Bike and Felix Gall of Decathlon CMA CGM. He looked perfectly fine, as did Pellizzari, who finished fifth that day.

However, whereas Pellizzari fell away in the third week after the third rest day, Hindley only got better. So much better, in fact, that he finished stage 19 together with Vingegaard and Gall and took third place in the standings from the struggling Thymen Arensman. Ahead of stage 20, Hindley led the Dutchman of Netcompany INEOS by 29 seconds.

Hindley’s performance is impressive, but it becomes even more remarkable after his pre-stage interview before stage 20. Speaking to Cycling Pro Net, Hindley admitted: “The second week was very hard for me, I was really quite sick. I even had to take antibiotics, but I seem to be back in time.”

That is striking, because very few riders come back from something like that in a Grand Tour. Yet Hindley entered the final mountain stage as a podium contender. “It was a super-hard day and I am happy that I managed to move up a place. Today (Saturday, red.) will be challenging again, although I think many riders will ride defensively, to protect their position. Everyone will be tired.”

“I remember Piancavallo from 2020, it is a tough and long climb. We do it twice, so it will be a challenge, with the fatigue from yesterday. We will give everything.”