Australian Jay Vine hit by kangaroo yet rises to win Tour Down Under, opening Australia’s 2026 World Tour season

Jay Vine did not expect this on race day. The Australian rider was knocked off his bike by a kangaroo and still won the Tour Down Under on Sunday. The shocking moment happened during the final stage of the race, held near Adelaide. Even after the crash, Jay Vine stayed calm, got back on his bike, and finished strong to take the overall title.This win made headlines because the Tour Down Under is the first event of the 2026 UCI World Tour. The crash came when two large kangaroos jumped onto the road during a fast part of the race. Jay Vine fell hard, changed bikes twice, and still returned to the front of the pack. Despite losing teammates and facing bad luck all week, he held on and won his home race for the second time in three years.The final stage covered 169.8 kilometers through the hills around Adelaide. With about 96 kilometers left, two kangaroos bounced onto the road at high speed. One kangaroo hit Jay Vine, sending him to the ground.Three riders, Menno Huising, Lucas Stevenson, and Alberto Dainese, were forced to quit the race. The kangaroo was also injured.Jay Vine got up right away. He changed bikes twice and rejoined the peloton with about 92 kilometers remaining. From there, he stayed near the front and rode smart for the rest of the day.Going into the last stage, Jay Vine led the general standings by 1 minute and 3 seconds. Still, he was already short on help. Two UAE Team Emirates riders, including defending champion Jhonatan Narvaez, crashed out on Saturday. On Sunday, Juan Sebastian Molano also left the race due to fatigue. That left Vine with just Ivo Emanuel Oliveira and Adam Yates as teammates.Despite everything, Jay Vine finished 1 minute and 3 seconds ahead of Mauro Schmid of Switzerland and Harry Sweeny of Australia.After the race, Vine spoke honestly about the moment.“Everyone asks me what’s the most dangerous thing in Australia and I always tell them it’s kangaroos,” Jay Vine said.“They wait and they hide in the bushes until you can’t stop and they jump out in front of you. Point proven today.”He added,“Two of them blasted through the peloton when we were doing probably 50 kph and one of them stopped and went left, right, left, right, and I ended up hitting its backside.”The stage win went to Matthew Brennan of Britain. He beat Finn Fisher-Black of New Zealand and Tobias Lund Andresen of Denmark in a sprint. The race finished in Stirling after eight laps with a steep climb to the line.Jay Vine summed it up best:“This year we started off really positive, but we had more and more bad luck as the race went on. Today was never going to be easy. It’s not over until it’s over.”