Jai Hindley will not be leading BORA-hansgrohe's team at the Tour de France with the Australian star relegated to serving the team's new superstar signing Primoz Roglic in July's Grand Tour.
Perth's Hindley made an auspicious Tour debut in 2023 as the German team's leader, battling valiantly against injuries to finish seventh overall, having for one glorious day even worn the leader's yellow jersey after he'd soloed to victory on the fifth stage in the Pyrenees.
But the signing of four-time Grand Tour winner Roglic has meant it's all-change at BORA, with the team confirming the not unexpected news on Wednesday that this year, Hindley won't be captain and will be riding instead to help the brilliant 34-year-old Slovenian in the mountains.
And neither will Hindley be going back to the Giro d'Italia to try to regain the title he won in 2022, as BORA have earmarked their German star Lennard Kamna to be captain in the Italian Grand Tour in May, backed by Colombian Daniel Martinez.
The team has gone all in to back current Giro champion Roglic's bid to complete the full set of Grand Tour wins after his three Vuelta a Espana victories - and that means the Australian having to act as a 'super domestique' for him in the Alps and Pyrenees.
"We are going into the Tour with a leader - and that is Primoz. Anything else makes no sense," BORA's sporting chief Rolf Adag said on Wednesday at the team's media day during their training camp in Mallorca.
"We won the Giro (with Hindley) - the Tour is the next logical step. It's a perfect match with Primoz. He was already second (in 2020) and he wants to go all the way to the top."
Hindley, only Australia's second-ever Grand Tour winner after 2011 Tour champ Cadel Evans, isn't the only top rider in the team to be pressed into service on Roglic's behalf at the Tour which begins at the end of June and ends in Nice on July 21.
Alexander Vlasov, the Russian who finished fifth in last year's Tour, will also be on board to help Roglic try to overthrow two-time defending champ Jonas Vingegaard and his Slovenian compatriot Tadej Pogacar, who pipped him to the title in 2020.
“We cannot fool the world by saying we have six leaders. We have a common goal. But we will give opportunities to Jai and Alex too in other races," said Aldag.
"We're underdogs but we were in the 2022 Giro too, but we celebrated the win. Are we expected to control the race? Not really, so we can do something out of the box."
Martinez and Kamna's participation in the Tour will depend on how they recover from their exertions at the Giro.
Aldag also confirmed that BORA's latest Australian signing, sprinter Sam Welsford, a Perth colleague of Hindley and a four-time world track champion, would be chasing victories at the Giro.
"I am confident that we will win the Tour. We have a clear aim and we are working towards that. Now it is up to us to execute the plan," Roglic declared.
