"For me personally, it hasn't been the best race, but I'm happy" - Jai Hindley turns super domestique to help Primoz Roglic take Dauphine victory

Starting the 2024 Criterium du Dauphine with an intriguing triage of attackers in Primoz Roglic, Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov, BORA - hansgrohe proved their qualities as the Slovenian secured himself the Maillot Jaune, thanks in part to the great support of his two super-domestiques.

"For the team, it's been really successful, even if for me personally, it hasn't been the best race, but I'm happy to be here and get some good racing in my legs before the big goal of the Tour de France," assessed Hindley honestly. "It's been a pretty good race for us. If I had to compare to last year's Dauphine (when Hindley finished 4th ed.), maybe not as good, but the Tour is still some time away and I think we should be good to go by then."

On a true thriller of a final stage, Roglic's hold on the Maillot Jaune looked to be slipping away from him in the most dramatic of fashions on the final climb of the race. When Roglic began to be dropped by the attacks of Matteo Jorgenson and the eventual stage winner Carlos Rodriguez, there was still around 5km to go of the climb meaning his Maillot Jaune was very much at risk. Showing his vast experience however, the Slovenian managed his efforts, didn't put himself in the red and was able to do just enough to keep himself narrowly in the overall lead of the general classification.

“We were hearing all the gaps, and I also saw the leaders more or less all the time, and it was tight, but it went to my advantage, so perfect,” the 34-year-old Roglic reflected on the situation in his own post-stage interview. “Did I suffer? Definitely, for all the last three days. It’s definitely something that we needed with the team. It’s crazy to be able to win the Dauphine.”