"This is Jay Vine at his peak" - Bruyneel praises Australian climber and wonders if move away from UAE would do him good

Jay Vine has just confirmed his victory at the 2026 Tour Down Under, and this has greatly been due to his performance on the stage to Uraidla. Vine is an extraordinary climber, and this week he showed his best legs back home in Australia, which has restarted the questions on what else he could potentially do, both at UAE Team Emirates - XRG and outside.

Vine won the time trial national championships in Australia, giving continuation to his excellent ITT run of 2025, but at the road race he was heavily marked and ended up not finishing the race. However, his form didn't seem to be under much questioning, and with the 30-year old spending a long period in Australia before the racing began, he had a good platform to train in and gain good form.

In the race's prologue he was the strongest of the GC contenders, despite there being no time trial bikes on the day, immediately showing that he was perhaps the man to beat at the race. But on stage 2, on the climb to Corkscrew, Adam Yates delivered him to the front and Vine then attacked the peloton, only being followed by his own teammate Jhonatan Narváez. It is estimated that Vine rode 7.3W/Kg for 12 minutes on that climb, whilst he almost single-handedly built a gap of almost a minute to the chasing group.

Today Vine confirmed the overall win, although the race didn't make it to Old Willunga Hill, which would be another accurate test of climbing ability and form. As in 2023, Vine built his GC win on the Corskscrew climb, proving his ability not only on the longer climbs, but also that he has the legs to make the difference in the shorter efforts.

“He did all the work himself. You could see in Narváez’s body language that he could only sit on his wheel," Johan Bruyneel argued on The Move podcast together with Spencer Martin. "Whether he wanted to or not, he couldn’t lead — not until it went downhill.”

Vine's ability carried UAE into another stage and GC win, to start off 2026 where they left the previous fall. “I think this is Jay Vine at his peak. He seizes his opportunities when they present themselves, but to be the leader… he doesn’t give any guarantees. He’s never finished in the top 5 of a Grand Tour. At UAE there are always riders who are better, who have already stood on a podium.”

Vine will race the UAE Tour next, teaming up with Isaac del Toro against the likes of Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel in what will be a thrilling edition, marked by the addition of a new climb that has, in its final 7 kilometers, 12% average gradient. In 2024 Vine looked set for overall win after finishing second in the time trial and Jebel Jais, but on Jebel Hafeet he cracked completely.

“It’s amazing for Jay Vine. He can compete with the best in week-long races, which isn’t easy. And in Grand Tours he will always have a leader above him, but he can still win stages. That’s a really nice situation.”

The big question then is whether Vine ambitions for more. At UAE he already has the opportunity to lead in several stage-races, the technological support to thrive in the time trials where he was second to Remco Evenepoel in Kigali last fall; and also the freedom to chase stage wins in the Grand Tours he's been present at. He's won the KOM jersey in the last two Vuelta a España editions, meaning he has the space to chase his own results.

But despite his immense climbing and time trialing ability, he has never been a born Grand Tour specialist. Crashes affect him quite often - even today, hours away from a near-certain GC win in Australia, he crashed into a kangaroo - and he hasn't often had the consistency required to be in the mix during the long races.

Bruyneel argues however that perhaps Vine would want to move out of UAE. Or at least, that rival teams should make a big push to sign him, such as Team Jayco AlUla who made such an investment on Ben O'Connor into 2025. “That would be the logical next step, right? You want such a good Australian rider on your Australian team. And I bet they’ve already tried. Whatever they paid for Ben O’Connor; I think Vine is worth the same.”

Vine surged onto the big scene in 2022, winning two mountain stages at the 2022 Vuelta a España, in one of them beating directly Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic and Enric Mas amongst others directly. He has since gathered victories in plenty races, but his role in Grand Tours has always been a mix of stage hunter and domestique. His best result in a GC is 30th however, and the Belgian pundit wonders if Vine would like to test himself in this aspect.

“The question is: can he do that? Which team would he go to? If he returns to Alpecin-Premier Tech he will be the leader, of course. But will he then finish top 5? He’s a great rider, but he probably won’t be on the podium. Are teams interested enough to invest? He’s 30 years old, you know.”