Kangaroos Cause Chaos at Santos Tour Down Under – Jay Vine Secures Overall Win Despite Crash
Jay Vine of UAE Team Emirates has won the Santos Tour down Under despite a bizarre and dangerous incident involving kangaroos during the final stage. Two kangaroos ran into the peloton while riders were traveling at approximately 50kph, causing a crash that forced Bjerg to withdraw from the race.
Vine himself collided with a kangaroo, hitting its backside as it thrashed around on the ground, but managed to avoid serious injury. He had to change bikes with Ivo oliveira but was able to finish the stage and secure his overall victory.
“Everyone asks me what is the most dangerous thing in Australia and I always tell them it’s kangaroos because they wait and hide in the bushes until you can’t stop and then they jump out in front of you,” Vine said, highlighting the unpredictable nature of the wildlife hazard. “Point proven today… One of them stopped,went left-right left-right left-right and then I ended up hitting its backside as it was flaying around on the ground. It’s one of those things.”
The team faced a challenging race with multiple riders withdrawing due to crashes and injuries. Vegard Stake Laengen suffered a rib injury and withdrew on Saturday, while Juan Sebastián Molano was a non-finisher on Sunday due to fatigue. This left Adam Yates and Oliveira to support Vine.
Despite the setbacks, Vine persevered, finishing 1:03 ahead of Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) and 1:12 ahead of Harry sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost). He also won stage two to Uraidla.
Vine acknowledged the difficulties faced by the team,stating,“This year we started off really positive and we just had more and more bad luck as the race went on… it’s definitely proven to me it’s never over till it’s over in this race for us.” He expressed concern for his teammates and relief at being able to hold onto the jersey.
