Mike O'Connor
Australian national time trial champion Jay Vine has suffered another setback, crashing out of stage 3 of the Volta a Catalunya during what was his first race back since injury.
The UAE Team Emirates XRG rider went down with around 70km remaining in the stage in a multi-rider incident that left several competitors on the ground.
SBS footage showed a number of riders able to remount and continue, including Léo Bisiaux of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team and Josh Kench from Groupama-FDJ, while Vine’s teammate Ivo Oliveira was also caught up but managed to finish the stage, crossing the line last after losing more than 12 minutes.
Vine was seen sitting in a roadside gutter after the crash and, although he stood up when assistance arrived, he indicated he wouldn’t continue. The 29-year-old then climbed into the team car, bringing an early end to his comeback race.
The Catalunya start marked Vine’s first competition since the Tour Down Under in January, where he secured overall victory despite crashing on the final stage after a kangaroo ran into the peloton.
He had spoken this week about still feeling the impact of that crash.
That incident left him with a fractured wrist and forced a period away from racing following what had been a strong start to the season that also included victory in the Australian national time trial championship.
Vine had been easing back into competition at Catalunya after the injury lay-off.
We’ll update this story once we get a medical update from Jay’s team.
Mike O’Connor – A keen cyclist, runner and photographer, Mike O’Connor is the Editor of Bicycling Australia. He manages the BA website and social media, and loves promoting the achievements of Australian cyclists.
