Jai Hindley to race Tour Down Under in 2026

“We are thrilled to welcome Jai back to the Santos Tour Down Under and I’m sure all cycling fans will be excited to watch him in action on South Australian roads.”

– Stuart O’Grady, TDU race director

Jai Hindley first climbed into prominence in the pro peloton during the delayed Giro d’Italia of 2020. During the final days in the mountains of the Italian race, the West Australian demonstrated that he is one of the best climbers in the world. After winning stage 18, he moved into second place on GC behind his team-mate at the time at Sunweb, Wilco Kelderman.

With only three days to go in the Giro of 2020, Kelderman led Hindley by 12 seconds while an Ineos Grenadier rider, Tao Geoghegan Hart, was ranked third only three seconds behind his Australian rival. At the finish of stage 20 at Sestrières on the final Saturday the Brit held off the late challenge by Hindley to take the win and a time bonus that reduced his margin on GC to nil – ie. first and second overall: ‘Same Time’ after 3,345.7km of racing!

Kelderman slipped down the rankings to third. Hindley took the maglia rosa for the first time in his career. And Geoghegan Hart was now the main challenger for the title, ranked second overall with the same time as Hindley… but the Australian would start the 15.7km time trial on the final Sunday as leader of the Giro because of a countback on stage placings.

His stint in pink lasted less than a day but Hindley had done enough to demonstrate that he could, one day, win a Grand Tour. The runner-up in the 2020 Giro would indeed improve on that result… but he would have to wait.

The 2021 season came and went and issues with saddle sores hindered Hindley in races. He didn’t finish the Giro that year, his final Grand Tour with the Dutch registered team, but by 2022 he was part of a new team – and this time he was the outright leader at Bora-Hansgrohe on a Giro route that again featured a heavy climbing schedule in the final days.

The 2022 Giro d’Italia gave Hindley a shot at redemption and he seized it, again snatching the leader’s jersey on the final Saturday with a stunning climbing performance – this time, relegating Richard Carapaz from leader to runner-up. The contrast between 2020 and 2022, however, was stark.

His coup on the Passo Fedaia should be part of Australian sporting legend. It was a masterclass in team tactics followed by a stunning display of climbing prowess. There was nothing the Venezuelan could do aside from watch as his GC lead disappeared up the road. Hindley was committed to improving on his previous result, and he needed to build an advantage large enough to limit the risk of another last-day slip down the rankings.

After the finish of stage 20 of the 2022 Giro the Australian was back in the pink leader’s jersey, only this time his advantage over the next-best rider was 1:25. Hindley still had a TT to Verona ahead of him and this time he would hold off all challengers. He would win the race by over a minute, with Carapaz – the Giro champion from 2019 – the runner-up.

“An Australian first!” That was the headline for the Giro d’Italia of 2022.

Jai Hindley, the champion of the Giro d’Italia, had created history for a team that was on the rise. The first Grand Tour conquest for a German-registered outfit that grew steadily from wildcard hopeful to what is now one of the most dominant, well-funded in pro cycling.

Now named Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe the team has a longer list of GC superstars. On the roster alongside Hindley, who recently signed a contract extension with the team through to the end of 2028, are the likes of Primoz Roglic, Florian Lipowitz, and Remco Evenepoel.

Since that Giro of 2022, the team has racked up a long list of impressive performances, with GC of the Grand Tours featuring prominently over the last four years. Roglic has won a Vuelta with the team (2024), Lipowitz was third on debut at the Tour de France (2025), and Evenepoel was runner-up in the Tour during his first season on the roster.

Meanwhile, Hindley has continued to shine brightly… albeit as a co-leader, super-domestique, or podium finisher – as was the case again in 2026 when he finished third in the Giro, rounding out his collection of podium places in the Italian Grand Tour.

Hindley’s return to the TDU

“He holds a significant place in Australian cycling history as a Grand Tour winner,” said the race director of the TDU, Stuart O’Grady, earlier this week when it was announced that Jai Hindley would return to the Australian WorldTour race in 2027.

It’s been a few years since he last raced the TDU, finishing 16th on GC in 2023, and O’Grady believes he’s a candidate for the podium next January.

“At the age of 30 he remains in the prime of his career so we are getting to see the best of him.”

Although the rest of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe TDU roster is yet to be confirmed, Hindley is the first big name rider confirmed as a starter. And the team has also listed rising Kiwi star Laurence Pithie as part of Hindley’s support cast for the 2027 six-stage race (19-24 January).

“It’s a great way to kick off the season,” said Hindley in the release about next year’s TDU, “racing in the Australian summer and on home roads in front of the Aussie fans.

“The support for the Australian riders is always fantastic, and there’s such a great atmosphere around the race. It’s always a fun event to be part of, and I’m excited to get the 2027 season under way with what I’m sure will be a strong team.”

It will be Hindley’s fifth start in the Tour Down Under, a race he first contested as a teenager in 2017 (finishing 25th on GC, 2:08 behind the winner that year, Richie Porte). It was early days in the elite ranks and the 19-year-old was just getting started. A few weeks after that TDU he again lined up as part of a composite young Australian team for an Aussie stage race, the Jayco-Herald Sun Tour which boasted the presence of defending Tour de France champion, Chris Froome.

It was on the road to Falls Creek in February 2017 that Hindley confirmed his growing reputation as a climber. Damian Howson won the stage in Victoria’s high country and Hindley was second behind his compatriot. Froome was 40-seconds behind the teenager, finishing the Falls Creek stage in sixth.

By 2018 Hindley was in the WorldTour after signing his first pro contract with Team Sunweb. By 2020, when he next competed in the Jayco-Herald Sun Tour, he collected a couple of stage wins, the first at Falls Creek and the second at Mount Buller. It was enough to net him his first GC victory, and a hint of what was yet to come.

Since his Giro d’Italia victory in 2022, Hindley has raced only a handful of days in Australia (10, if you don’t take into account some local races… and, of course, the traditional – and very informal – Boxing Day Papas Bunch battle on the streets of Perth). He is a superstar of Australian cycling and remains one of the finest climbers in the modern peloton. If you want to see him in action, be sure to get to South Australian next January when he’ll be a feature of the start list.

Exactly who else is due to arrive in Adelaide in a couple of months is yet to be determined. The race has evolved over a quarter of a century and the Tour Down Under is now a genuine contest, a great way to kick off the cycling season, and it serves as the perfect option for a holiday for sport fans. The ideal scenario would be to see Hindley up against other Grand Tour champions of our time and we wait to see if it might just be possible that Jai will compete against the likes of Tadej Pogacar.

The rumour mill is sparking up and word on the street is that O’Grady is doing all he can to convince the Slovenian to return to Adelaide for another crack at claiming the ochre jersey. It’s early days for the line-up announcements. One star of the peloton is confirmed. Who else will be there to challenge?