"I still have to do rehab for the rest of my life – you can't uncrush a vertebra" - Jay Vine open and honest about his ongoing struggles post-Itzulia crash

Jay Vine has been in top of late, adding three wins to his palmares in 2025, including most recently a stage of the Tour de Romandie. It's pretty incredible that Vine is performing at this level just over a year after a nearly career-ending crash at the Itzulia Basque Country in 2024, something the Aussie is certainly not taking for granted.

"I was really looking forward to doing the Giro with Tadej. That was the massive, massive goal for that year," recalls Vine in conversation with Cycling News. "I was disappointed that I didn't get to do that with Tadej, but after the accident, I mean, every day was sort of like a blessing. I'm the luckiest unlucky person around, with the way that whole accident played out in the end – being able to first walk, then ride, then race again."

It's not with hyperbole that Vine says that either. The images of him lying in a hospital bed with a neck brace in the days following his Itzulia horror crash were shared far and wide on social media last year, and Vine himself is well aware that things could have been a lot worse. Even today, Vine is still feeling the effects of his crash, something that further highlights his determination amidst this impressive return to form.

"I mean, there was a long recovery and I was still having back problems all through the race. And I still have to do rehab for the rest of my life, basically, because I have a crushed vertebra – you can't uncrush a vertebra," he explains. "The rehab was still progressing, and the doctors had told me... well, you might never be symptom-free. It'll just progressively get better and better, and you'll learn to deal with it."

And somewhat understandably, since his scare, rider safety has been a prominent thought in Vine's mind. "I mean, I never used to take extreme risks, as it was. I'm one of the slowest people in training because there's absolutely no need to take risks in training – I've never crashed during a training ride to date, touch wood. There's no need to take the risk," says the Aussie. "So that really hasn't changed, but just assessing how I can best look after my family has become a lot more in the forefront of my mind, that's for sure.”

"My perspective on the sport on safety is that it's still a very old sport in terms of that aspect of it. I mean innovation, we've come leaps and bounds in the last even 10 years with nutrition, tyres, feeding, fuelling, training, aero clothing and stuff like that. Then, when it comes to safety, we're still in the dark ages. There's no extra shielding in the Lycra or anything. There's no concussion transponder in the helmets," he continues. "With the safety aspect, I think there's a lot to improve there."

In Vine's opinion, it's on the UCI to make more effort in improving the safety of the riders that make the sport. "They make a rule, it changes the sport," Vine concludes. "A bit like in Formula One, when they introduced the Halo and made it mandatory to put a Halo on the car, no longer did you have cars without Halos."