The Australian contender’s 10 days in the top three are over after Hindley got caught up in a mass early crash that left him floored and then having to ride with a painful backside for the rest of the gruelling 14th stage.
Jai Hindley crosses the line in stage 14.AP
He paid for his suffering,cracking later on the final Col de Joux Plane,while Spain’s Carlos Rodriguez not only won the stage but leapfrogged over Hindley into third place by just one second.
The man from Perth had been in the top three ever since his,before Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar turned the Tour into a two-horse race.
The pair were at it again on a thrilling 152-kilometre stage 14 from Annemasse,with Pogacar beating Vingegaard in the sprint for second place behind Rodriguez,but actually losing another second in the general classification standings after the Danish leader picked up a crucial bonus in an earlier mountain sprint.
But while Vingegaard now holds a 10-second lead over Pogacar,it’s all beginning to look more difficult by the day for BORA-hansgrohe’s Hindley,who’s now four minutes 44 seconds off the lead,while also having to now chase Ineos-Grenadiers’ Rodriguez,to whom he lost 1:46 on Sunday.
Hindley eventually finished sixth on the stage,but battled courageously to limit his losses after the early mass crash that prompted a stoppage of half-an-hour in the race.
Hindley was caught up in a massive pile-up that forced five riders to abandon before another two also crashed out,and counted himself lucky that he was able to struggle on.
“I’ve no idea what happened in the crash. We were just laying down before I knew it,hopefully,the other guys are all right. I’ve got quite a bit of pain in my arse actually,in my backside,so it wasn’t really ideal – but that’s bike racing,” he said.
“I think it’s more likely to be a muscle or something,but it’s quite sore at the moment and hopefully we’ll try to sort it out over the next few days.”
James Shaw and Romain Bardet get medical care after a crash on the fourteenth stage.AP
There was drama at the top of the Joux Plane,where a motorbike blocked Pogacar’s efforts to race away from Vingegaard and take the vital three bonus seconds that the Dane ended up grabbing in a burst for the line.
The Slovenian two-time champ Pogacar felt it was his own fault,shrugging:“It was one wasted bullet after already doing the big climb to do one sprint for nothing. It’s a bit of a shame but I don’t think it will change the outcome. OK,I messed it up a little bit,but it is what it is.”
Pogacar had attacked with 3.7km of the final climb remaining,initially distancing Vingegaard but never getting more than 20 metres clear.
‘Humiliate a rider’:Ewan criticised by team director after Tour exit
Australia’s cycling sprint star Caleb Ewan has had to abandon the Tour de France,fatigued and beaten up by the brutal race once again.
And to compound his misery,the marquee Lotto-Dstny rider has found himself being criticised by his team director and embroiled in a row after he pulled out during Friday’s 13th stage.
Ewan had battled courageously on Thursday to just beat the time cut on what he felt had been one of the hardest stages of his career,declaring after being helped home by teammate Jasper de Buyst:“Today sucked but we made it.”
Yet his relief was short-lived,as he was quickly out the back on unlucky stage 13 on Friday,and forced to withdraw in obvious discomfort,clutching his abdomen,before the peloton up ahead had even started the climb of the feared Grand Colombier.
“Leaving the Tour is a real shame. I want to express my gratitude to the team for their big support and I hope they can still show some nice things in the stages to come,” said the 29-year-old on the team website after his latest disappointment of a miserable season by his stellar standards.
Australia’s Caleb Ewan grimaces as he crosses the finish line to finish in second place earlier in the Tour.AP
But Ewan’s withdrawal prompted an extraordinary reaction from Lotto Dstny’s team director Stephane Heulot,who criticised his star rider’s attitude in an interview with Belgian broadcaster Sporza.
“A rider has duties and not only rights. We are entitled to ask for another commitment from him,” Heulot said.
“This Tour de France is a reflection of what he showed this season and last year.”
The rebuke prompted Ewan’s agent,Jason Bakker,to then react furiously,tellingCycling Weekly on Saturday:“To throw what he said out there publicly and humiliate a rider who has given so much to Lotto over a period of time of four to five years is quite disgusting to be frank.
“I’ve spoken with Caleb twice and he’s pretty devastated. It’s extremely disappointing.
“He[Heulot] talked about Caleb’s mindset. To question someone’s mental health publicly in such a way is a very dangerous thing to do and he owes Caleb an apology.”
Last year,Ewan,who has annexed five Tour de France stage wins down the years,won the “Lanterne Rouge” as the 134th and last finisher in Paris at the end of a Tour in which he had suffered two crashes,injuries,bad luck and missed opportunities.
In 2021,it was much worse as he crashed out of the race with a broken collarbone at the finish of the third stage.
This year,he had earned two podium places – third on stage three and runner-up the following day – but it only continued the trend of near-misses in what he felt had been one of the worst seasons of his distinguished career.
Belgian team Lotto-Dstny said in a statement:“After struggling with fatigue for several days,he (Ewan) fought hard but it just wasn’t possible to continue.”
AAP with DPA
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