Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates XRG) kept his race leader's jersey on the final stage of Tour Down Under, but along the way the Australian was one of the fallers when two kangaroos darted into the peloton and caused a crash.
One of the kangaroos could be seen getting back to its feet and stumbling off the road, away from the riders. The crash took place with just under 100km to go of the 169.8km stage to Stirling. Riders later said two kangaroos jumped into the bunch, with one taking the brunt of the impact with riders.
Vine came down in the incident, alongside his team mate Mikkel Bjerg, who looked more seriously injured and had to abandon the race. While Vine was able to continue, he damaged his bike in the crash. He was forced to swap bikes for a time with team mate Ivo Oliveira, who resolved the issues with Vine's bike and then swapped back.
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"Everything was going according to plan up until that point. Sebastian (Molano) was doing a great job. The breakaway was well within reach," Vine said after the stage, which his team started with just five riders and finished with only three.
"And then, unfortunately, we lost Mikkel, and he knocked the kangaroo into me. So it was just like pinballing inside the group there. But I didn't fall too hard."
The sprinters' teams took over in the finale, ensuring Vine and his remaining team mates just needed to stay safe. Last season's top neo pro, Britain's Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike), won the stage in a sprint from Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM Team).
Vine won the race overall after taking the leader's jersey with victory on the hilly stage 3 to Uraidla, where he and team mate Jhonatan Narváez were almost a minute clear of a chase group. He claimed the final GC by 1:03 from Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla).
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Australian Harry Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost), one of Ben Healy's biggest allies in that team, took a career-best result with 3rd overall. He finished 1:12 down on 2026 champion Vine, who also won the race overall three years ago.
? A 'hopping' mad situation!
? Jay Vine was unfortunate to hit a rogue Kangaroo that was attempting to cross the track during the Tour Down Under! pic.twitter.com/6F5Jdd0Fed
— SBS Sport (@SBSSportau) January 25, 2026
Tour Down Under winner Jay Vine was among a bunch of riders who went down when two kangaroos jumped on to the road during the final stage. pic.twitter.com/Io03nzLvvi
— 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) January 25, 2026
