Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates–XRG) secured his second career victory at the Santos Tour Down Under, adding to his first title in 2023. The Australian took control of the race on stage 2, launching a powerful acceleration alongside defending champion Jhonatan Narváez that no one else could follow, with the pair finishing first and second on the stage.
After losing two teammates, including Narváez, to crashes on the shortened stage 4, Vine also hit the deck on the final day when kangaroos jumped into the peloton. He then had to cope with the loss of two more domestiques, as Mikkel Berg crashed and Sebastian Molano was spent after pulling for much of the stage.
“It was more challenging time wise three years ago. This year, we started off more positive and we just got more and more bad luck. We were always saying it’s not over until it’s over but Jesus that was never more true than here,” Vine said.
“I always say kangaroos are the most dangerous animals in Australia, they wait and hide in the bushes… I hit it on its backside and went down but fortunately I’m okay but unfortunately we lost a guy.”
“I think we’re a bit disappointed all week with the result but we did 100 percent all week and to finish off today was great. We learnt from previous mistakes. It wasn’t ideal, we had Menno [Huising] who usually sorts everything but he got smacked off by a kangaroo. We stayed in a position where we needed to save energy and the boys set me up to finish off.” Brennan said.
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