04/02/2023

Mitch Docker considers Hindley big favourite for Tour de France: "Jai’s going to the Tour as a potential winner"

Jai Hindley is the main hope of the Australian Nation for this year's edition of Tour de France. The 26 years old Australian former winner of last year Giro d'Italia Bora-Hansgrohe rider will aim this year for the Tour de France. And according to ex rider and fellow countrymen Mitchell Docker Hindley has not only the legs but the mind of a champion.

"I spoke to Jai at the Tour Down Under and asked him about how he handles expectations. That's for me what makes the champions. The psychology around that is completely underestimated in my opinion and that’s the realm that guys like Jai are entering now. He’s entering a whole new world of expectation after the Giro last year”, Docker said to Cyclingnews.

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Docker an ex rider himself, who raced for 10 years in the World Tour is no stranger to the pressure that the main general classification riders endure. Specially with the Australia case where after Cadel Evans it was Hindley who won a Grand Tour.

“Jai’s going to the Tour as a potential winner. It’s so different riding with that, although I think Jai has exactly the right personality to be able to handle that. At the end of the day Hindley is obviously now the most recent Australian Grand Tour winner behind Cadel Evans after he won the Tour. There’s a lot of weight in that. So to some, anything less than Jai winning will be a failure. It’s going to be interesting seeing how he handles things", Docker stated.

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Docker also talked about another Australian, general classification's rider, Ben O’Connor. The AG2R Citroën Team rider had an interesting season finishing podium in Dauphine. And according to Docker he also has the champion mentality necessary to success.

"We’ve seen it recently too with Ben O’Connor. He’s a guy who seemingly likes to add more pressure to his racing, which a lot of riders don’t like to do, by highlighting these big goals he wants to achieve. He’d said before the Dauphine last year that he wanted to finish on the podium in a World Tour stage race, then lo and behold he went and did. A lot of people don’t like to do that as they’re scared of failing. O’Connor can definitely handle it too" he concluded.