No Australian has ever won the Vuelta a España, the third of cycling's three grand tours.
But Jai Hindley, one of just two Australians alongside Cadel Evans to ever win one of the sport's premier three-week stage races, is still contemplating glory at this year's event.
"For sure you race to win bike races, simple as that," Hindley told CyclingNews during the race's second rest day on Monday.
"At the moment the race is for the podium, but in the end it's a grand tour. It's three weeks long and it can be very unpredictable.
"I'm feeling pretty good, and in general, the Vuelta is still to play for."
The 2022 Giro d'Italia champion currently sits in fourth place overall, 3 minutes 10 seconds behind two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, with João Almeida 48 seconds behind.
However, the 29-year-old West Australian is looming large just 32 seconds behind third-placed Tom Pidcock in the race for the podium.
Although a top-three spot is the primary goal, Hindley still holds high hopes for what promises to be an intensely challenging final week.
"The podium would be really nice, and the team also deserve that," Hindley said.
"But it's not a given nor would be easy to do. It'll be a big fight every day to the finish."
Seven stages remain in the race, with a total of 777.4km and 13,643m of climbing to endure, including a crucial 27.2km individual time trial in Valladolid.
Hindley's Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team also has 21-year-old Italian phenom Giulio Pellizzari as a backup plan, the leader in the white jersey competition for the race's best young rider sitting in sixth overall.
Pellizzari has said he is working for Hindley: "The team's goal is the podium [for Hindley]. We're fighting for that and the white jersey is a plus," he said after Sunday's 15th stage.
But counting for the Australian is his uncanny ability to excel in the final week of grand tours — Hindley's 2022 Giro triumph was built off the back of a phenomenal stage win the day before the final rest day, after which he chipped away at the narrow lead held by Richard Carapaz until he finally cracked the Ecuadorian on the final 3km of the brutal ascent to Passo Fedaia on the penultimate stage.
"I think I'm growing into the race and feeling good, and there are great vibes within the team," Hindley said prior to the 12th stage.
"The feeling is good, but it's step by step. I also feel like I'm growing into the race … that's why I like grand tours so much, I guess."
Hindley feels that the "decisive" stage will be the final mountain test up the Bola del Mudo, a 12.3km climb at an average of 8.6 per cent on Saturday.
But after three tough years, Hindley is just thrilled to be fighting it out at the sharp end of the race.
"If I'm honest, it's been a long time since I've been at this level," Hindley said.
"It's great to be back at the pointy end of a grand tour."
Hindley hasn't enjoyed much luck in grand tours since his 2022 triumph in pink — his heavy fall and abandonment at the Giro this year a case in point — but the target was always the Vuelta this year, a race that has proved to be rich ground for Australian success in the past few years.
In 2024, Ben O'Connor finished second after a record-breaking stint in the leader's red jersey, following on from Jack Haig's surprise third place in 2021.
Cadel Evans also finished third at the Vuelta back in 2009.
There has been other peripheral successes in the year's final grand tour too.
Sprinter Kaden Groves won the points jersey in both of the last two editions, while Jay Vine is the defending king of the mountain.
Vine is also leading the race for the polka dot jersey this year, a jersey also won by Michael Storer in 2021.
"I really enjoy racing the Vuelta, you know? It's a pretty sick race," Hindley said.
"The last couple of years I was normally meant to do it, but I was coming out of the Tour [de France] in a body bag.
"So I was really happy, super motivated to do it this year. It was the big goal."
So can Hindley upset the odds and mount a serious challenge for the red jersey as the race heads to Madrid?
Vingegaard may be in the box seat, but with a brutal Tour de France lingering in his legs and a reduced Visma Lease-a-Bike team making for an oddly conservative strategy and a UAE Team Emirates XRG squad battling on multiple fronts and perhaps not fully investing in Almeida, it's not beyond the realms of possibility.
