Jay Vine’s victory was impressive not just because he ends as a winner, but also for the manner of the result, the hard path to the top; proving to others that it’s possible and for the future of the driven Canberran as he rises further in cycling.
To be clear, this wasn’t the case of a breakaway being let go to the finish and Vine being the best of the 10 guys in the group. Such a win is still prestigious, but doing what the 26-year-old did and jumping away from the general classification group on the final climb of the day, and then holding everyone off despite significant gaps being made in the fight for the red jersey, is a different order of impressiveness.
It puts Vine into the same conversation as the likes of Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic, Enric Mas, Jai Hindley, Ben O’Connor… except with Vine’s name on top after the stage.
Many know the tale of the Zwift Academy graduate winning his way into the pro ranks, and it was one of the questions put to Vine after the race, about how it compared to cycling indoors. In fairness to the interviewer, when you have a Zwift Academy contract and a UCI e-sports world championships under your belt, it did top the resume for Vine, but his future is firmly on the real road.
While significant in him getting a break at the top level, that contract-winning Zwift Academy performance was the product of years of hard work, after Vine started in marathon mountain-bike before switching across to the road in 2019.
It was a short time before when he began to impress in Nero Continental colours on the National Road Series (NRS), and then against international competition at the Herald Sun Tour in early 2020.
That eye-catching ride for fifth overall – behind winner Jai Hindley, who would go on to produce some pretty impressive performances – was threatened to be lost as, just a few weeks later, the world shut down due to COVID-19 and the opportunities for Vine to show that his performance wasn’t just a flash in the pan had evaporated.
It was here that Vine’s determination kicked in and his wife Bre’s support became all-important. There was no guarantee that Vine would get a chance to turn professional in 2020; he simply didn’t have enough results to his name.
Other opportunities were limited, even the Zwift Academy didn’t look a possibility as it was just for Under-23 riders at the time. Vine was too old, also a tough position to be in when searching for a contract as the likes of Pogacar and Evenepoel took the world by storm as youngsters and teams sought to follow that trend.
Vine knuckled down, trained very hard over the COVID-19 break and emerged one of the strongest riders in Australia at the end of 2020, impressing with dominant rides in the NRS and winning his way to the pro peloton a week later through the Zwift Academy.
Vine is a down-to-earth guy, and was quick to recognise the critical role his wife Bre played in the process after what, at that moment, was the best win of his career - an NRS summit win atop Mt Tomewin on the Queensland-NSW border.
"Bre's been working for 18 months,” Vine said at the time to SBS Sport. “Nearly two years now to support my training and with the pandemic, trying to justify me not having a job while there's no racing is pretty difficult, but she supported me through it.”
That interview atop the climb was in the blazing December heat, crouched in the gutter at the side of the road, to the applause of no fans and with no prize money on the line.
Two years later, at a Grand Tour, the interview was beamed out worldwide as thousands packed the roadsides to cheer Vine on with a result that will no doubt see his next contract increase.
“This is for my wife, who has basically just done everything for me for the last three or four years just to get me to this point,” said Vine, in a tone not too dissimilar from his time atop Mt Tomewin.
The humble beginnings and barriers placed in the way for the Australian are being overcome with a determined work ethic, a growth-focused mindset and a partnership with Bre that has enabled it all to happen.
His time in Europe has been a case of every post being an almost winner, he's finished on the final overall podium at the Tour of Turkey twice and last year's Vuelta was a profile in persistence and bad fortune as his chances to win from the breakaway were crueled by a crash with his team car and the peloton chasing him down in the final kilometre.
His performance on the slopes of the Pico Jano wasn’t just a win, it was a sign that Vine is already up there competing with the best and that if he keeps his commitment, he could be taking a lot more of these victories in the future.
La Vuelta continues tonight with another climbing stage, with the Puerto de San Glorio coming in the middle of the stage and making it one likely to be taken out by the early attackers. Watch it LIVE and FREE on SBS and SBS On Demand from 10:50pm (AEST).
