Hindley was part of the next group on the road when Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) made his decisive push on Stage 6 of the Vuelta, finishing 1'22" behind the young Belgian star as he finished in the pea-soup fog atop the Pico Jano.
“That last climb was pretty much a full gas effort from bottom to top, and chapeau to Remco, he was phenomenal,” Hindley said in an interview ahead of Stage 7. “He just rode away from everyone, no worries, and there’s not much you can do in that situation. It’s like that.”
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) as the defending champion and the highest placed of the red jersey candidates going into the stage was the main man that everyone looked at to chase Evenepoel and Enric Mas (Movistar), with few others cooperating to lift the pace.
“Everyone in that group was completely on the limit, I think. If anyone was feeling stronger then they probably would have been on Remco’s wheel,” Hindley said. “But in the end, no one really works well together in that situation, because everyone’s trying to save as much energy and everyone’s on the limit. The cooperation wasn’t super great, but that’s pretty understandable.
“To be honest, I really didn’t feel like the strongest guy there, that’s for sure. It was a really hard stage, especially when the rain started coming down at the bottom of that descent. That made it a very stressful and hard day. It added another dynamic to the race and it meant you used up a lot more energy.”
Hindley’s admission that he was suffering a bit in the conditions comes as little surprise given the teeming rain, and otherwise the West Australian is happy with how he’s going in his first attempt at a second Grand Tour in a calendar year.
“It’s the first time doing two Grand Tours, so it’s a bit of an unknown for me, but I’m enjoying it and actually not feeling too bad,” Hindley said. “Hopefully the legs get better during the race, we’ll see.”
The 26-year-old was asked to look ahead to the rest of the Vuelta, but he’s taking things in his typical laid-back style at present.
“These stages will already be pretty hard, but that’s just typical Vuelta – it’s quite unpredictable and it’s usually quite aggressive to make the breakaway every day,” Hindley added. “You have to take it as it comes. It’s really unpredictable racing, but it’s really fun racing too.”
The next big test for the red jersey hopefuls comes tonight on the Collau Fancuaya, the 10.3km climb at 7.9% with some tough sections after an easier start that will see even the best climbers tested.
La Vuelta continues tonight with a summit finish to Collau Fancuaya, the hard climb set to see a battle for the stage and the red jersey as the top climbers again get the chance to make their mark on the Spanish Grand Tour. Watch from 9:05pm (AEST) via SBS On Demand, with the SBS broadcast starting at 10:30pm. WA viewers can watch from 8:20pm (AWST) on SBS VICELAND.
