Jay Vine returned to motion this week at Volta a Catalunya, eight weeks after an eventful stage 5 at Tour Down Below. The ultimate stage introduced him a second profession GC title at his house race, in addition to an in depth encounter with certainly one of two kangaroos and a damaged wrist.
“Everybody is aware of by now. A kangaroo jumped into the peloton, inflicting half the peloton to hit the bottom. It made information worldwide, however it might be good if the game have been identified for one thing apart from a kangaroo leaping in entrance of the riders. It’s what it’s,” Vine informed Sporza Tuesday after a second day of racing in northern Spain.
Whereas Vine stated he had no thought how both kangaroo fared from the surprising crash on January 25, what he may affirm was that surgical procedure to restore his damaged scaphoid had gone properly however that rehabilitation may take “9 to 12 months”.
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“Nonetheless a number of development must occur with the wrist with regard to ache administration however we have now come a good distance within the final 4 weeks since hitting the roads once more,” he stated on his Instagram feed on Monday.
The Tour Down Below was greater than eventful for his UAE Crew Emirates-XRG squad, along with his teammates Jhonathan Narváez and Vegard Stake Laengen struggling accidents on stage 4 which took them out of the race. Narváez remains to be recovering from a number of thoracic vertebrae fractures. The kangaroo crash additionally introduced down Mikkel Bjerg, who has not raced since.
The stage 5 catastrophe passed off with 95km to go when a pair of kangaroos bolted throughout the course because the peloton sped alongside, TV cameras from broadcasters displaying one kangaroo darting via and riders later telling the media that there have been truly two that hopped via the peloton. With the injured wrist, Vine needed to chase again to the main bunch to retain the ochre jersey.
Vine had surgical procedure in Australia the day after the Tour Down Below ended and spent his restoration time with household at their Andorra base, tackling base miles on the coach, and had solely ridden exterior two weeks in the past. He completed within the peloton on each opening phases at Volta a Catalunya.
“It will be good to get a end result, however I do not suppose I am at a excessive sufficient stage but to compete with these guys. We have now João [Almeida] and Brandon [McNulty] who’re doing very properly. The objective is to help them.”
Additionally making a return to racing is teammate Filippo Baroncini, who suffered a horrible crash within the 2025 Tour de Pologne. The 25-year-old Italian completed each days in chase teams, properly behind GC chief Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) and race favorite Remco Evenepoel (Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
After the seven-day Volta a Catalunya, Vine was anticipated to participate in a coaching camp in Spain as he regarded to return to kind for the Giro d’Italia, which begins Might 8.
He was wanting ahead to stage 10 of this yr’s Giro, which provided a 40km particular person time trial that he stated was “on my bucket listing” when the route was introduced over the winter.
“There’s a very good time trial on the tenth day. It’s utterly flat. That’s what I’m wanting ahead to most. Anything that comes with it’s a optimistic factor.”
