"It would be nice if the sport were known for something other than a kangaroo jumping in front of the riders": Jay Vine reflects on Down Under crashes
CyclingThursday, 26 March 2026 at 09:00
Jay Vine has a 50% win to DNF ratio thus far in the 2026 season. The 30-year-old opened his season with a national time trial season, then abandoned the road race, and followed up with an overall victory at the Tour Down Under. However that wasn't as simple as it would've seemed. On a penultimate stage in and around Stirling, a kangaroo took the peloton by an attack, taking out race leader Jhonatan Narváez while Vine himself also suffered an injury causing a two-month racing break.
"Everyone knows by now. A kangaroo jumped into the peloton, causing half the peloton to crash," he reflects on it once again with Sporza. "It made the news worldwide, but it would be nice if the sport were known for something other than a kangaroo jumping in front of the riders. It is what it is."
Vine initially seemed to get off with a scare, but still sustained a fracture in his left wrist from the incident. This proved to be the start of yet another rehabilitation, for the seemingly haunted Vine. It's taken until the second half of March for the Australian to return to action at the Volta a Catalunya.
But despite the forced pause, Vine admits that the feeling in his hand is far from perfect, and that a wrist injury can take multiple months to fully heal. "I’m doing well, but of course I’m still rehabilitating, but that can take 9 to 12 months."
Vine is therefore tempering expectations for the coming days, as the riders head into the Catalan mountains. "It would be nice to get a result, but I don’t think I’m at a good enough level yet to compete with these guys. We have Joao (Almeida) and Brandon (McNulty) who are doing very well. The goal is to support them."
In the meantime, we have seen Vine stroke by further bad luck during the third stage of Volta a Catalunya, crashing with 70 kilometers to go. Since then, it has been confirmed the UAE rider has abandoned the stage with medical update expected to arrive later.
Jay Vine made it onto the time trial World Championships podium in 2025
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- 4 days ago UAE Team Emirates had 17 victories and Ineos had 10. Now Ineos have 13. At this rate they'll catch up. With regards to Settimana Inernazionale Coppi e Bartali, it is a sprint stage today. Though Matteo Moschetti is ranked highest, I'm focusing more on 19 year old Alessio Magagnotti. Unlike his teammate Davide Donati (who won two stages and the points classification in the recent Giro di Sardegna), I don't think he's learnt good positioning yet, but he has speed. Danny van Poppel is one of the best with positioning (though he may be the sprinter) so could make for an interesting combination
Rafionain-Glas26-03-2026 - Horner has. As predicted, he called Evenepoel’s actions a 'knucklehead move' (for once I agree with him - Almeida could've been knocked out of GC). I wonder if CutD will report on the video which I haven't bothered to watch and will notRafionain-Glas26-03-2026
- I think Remco is trying to win where he can. He needed this race for his climbing preparations. Jonas should win tomorrow, finishes over 2,000 meters.awp26-03-2026
- Someone really really needs to take this lad aside and break down his ego a little bit. I can see why riders benefit from going through the juniors to learn this kind of stuff - I think he's been so feted by the Belgian media and over-hyped that he's taking on all that pressure to perform as well as a sort of underlying prima donna expectation of respect and deference. The worst of both worlds. But you're completely right, he races every stage like it's a one-day race. Then he's cooked by the high mountains in a GT.antipodeanpedalfan26-03-2026
- That really sucks for Remco going into the high mountains. He needed this race for his climbing preparation more than he needed to win it, although it's always good for him and his team to have a victory. Hopefully he'll have a good day tomorrow. Finishing over 2,000 meters on stage 4, that's Jonas territory, he should stamp his name on this race tomorrow.awp26-03-2026
- What I don’t understand is, there are several major climbing stages coming up and there’s a pattern here where burns his matches for these climbing stages, and then falls apart on the climbs when it matters the most. It’s like he races like he’s a classic’s rider but wants everybody to treat him like he’s a GC rider. I wonder if Chris Horner will give him a good youtube lashing for all of this. I will say this though, it makes him fun to watchCbastnagel26-03-2026
- Why would Jonas work for Remco? It served no purpose during the stage. In fact, Remco dropping HIS WHOLE REDBULL TRAIN served no purpose. What was Remco thinking?! Also, Remco's team was doing a lot of blocking duties and sandbagging to try to slow down the chase group but you're not going to mention that of course, because that would be contrary to your insistence that Remco and his team were playing fair...Pogboom26-03-2026
- Fascinating to hear that a Roubaix podium wouldn’t have used a power meter until 2015. It’s small facts like that which highlight how data driven and robotic it has become for riders. A small fact that reveals so much about marginal gains and the crazy professionalism of the peloton. So very much has changed since Sagan was supreme.RidesHills26-03-2026
- It’s a bike race, there are tactics. One of them is not pulling a turn when you want to have the advantage. Risking being caught by the chasing group in order to win. One of Remco’s biggest flaws for me is his inability to accept race tactics like this. Instead of focusing on what he needs to do, he loses his rag, starts waving his arms around, getting distracted and furious and yeah, rides into a pothole cuz he’s stewing on the “injustice” of basic racecraft. Jonas was 100% justified in sitting on the wheel. I do not understand why people get so bent out of shape about it. He’s trying to win. But he’s also one of the most sportsmanly riders around. Never forget him waiting for Tadej, the handshake, so he could whup him on the climb fair and square.antipodeanpedalfan26-03-2026
- He was marking a rival ! And Remco is much stronger on the flats so why not based on tactics!frieders326-03-2026
Loading
Write a comment