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Australia's new Giro d'Italia champion Jai Hindley has outlined his next big cycling dream - to win the Tour de France.
Jai Hindley has revealed that his next big cycling dream after winning the Giro d'Italia is to triumph in the Tour de France.
Australia's newest cycling superstar said he believed he could emulate one of his heroes Cadel Evans by becoming the nation's second winner of the sport's greatest race.
Asked if he felt he could win the 'maillot jaune' - the yellow jersey - as Evans did back in 2011, Hindley told reporters on Tuesday: "For sure, why not?
"Never say never. That would be the ultimate dream, but I'm definitely not going to say it's not possible.
"My biggest plan would be to ride the Tour. This is my fifth year as a pro and I've never ridden the Tour, so that would a huge step forward.
"Not necessarily riding for the general classification, but just riding the Tour would be super special."
It's unlikely this year after his mental and physical exertions in winning the three-week Giro.
"Maybe next year, I don't know," said Hindley, who has this year targeted the Vuelta a Espana and world championships back home in Australia.
"That would be pretty awesome."
Hindley, who was speaking during his post-race holiday with his girlfriend from an unspecified spot in Italy, said it felt "incredible" to have joined Evans as only the second Australian to win one of cycling's Grand Tours.
"Phenomenal. Cadel is a household name in Australia. If you asked the average person on the street who knew nothing about cycling, they'd still know Cadel Evans," the 26-year-old shrugged.
"He's one of the most important and influential Australian cyclists ever, so to achieve something like he did, that is very, very special.
"2011 was the first time I'd come to race in Europe, I did some racing in Belgium then went to France to watch the Tour.
"So I was actually on the side of the road with my family watching the race live. Watching on TV was cool, but being there was really crazy. To look back and know, I was there watching Cadel win the race was really cool.
I was also in Belgium when he did the time trial on the second last day (in Grenoble). It was a huge moment for Australian cycling and, for sure, I'll never forget watching that."
Hindley reckoned he'd been overwhelmed by the response he'd received back home, particularly from his home base around Perth, both during and after the race.
"Pretty overwhelming," he said. "A super positive reaction, it feels like I had the full support of the nation.
"I just want to say to all the young kids, especially all the kids in Midland Cycling Club (in Perth) where I started and had big dreams of making it big in the sport, that it is possible to make it if you do all the hard work and you want it enough and you dream about it.
"So to all the kids, dream big!"
