“I’m happy to be back, y’know,” Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) said as a straightforward and simple description of his feelings as he returned to Grand Tour racing at the Vuelta a España, four months after his horrendous crash in the Itzulia Basque Country. But the scale of what he has been through just to get to this point was no less remarkable for all that.
Vine was one of the major victims of the mass crash in stage 4 of the Itzulia Basque Country, that also left others like Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) seriously injured. In the Australian’s case, he suffered multiple fractures to his vertebrae in the crash, including a cervical fracture and two thoracic spine vertebral body fractures.
After months of rehabilitation, which is still ongoing, the Australian was able to return to racing at the Vuelta a Burgos, where he showed rapidly rising form by winning the individual time trial, which effectively proved to be his ticket for the Vuelta a España.
A double-stage winner in the 2022 Vuelta, Vine said he was still feeling the effects of his Itzulia crash. But at the same time, he said, “it’s manageable”, and with the World Championships ITT and mixed relay event now confirmed for the Australian as well, he’ll have more goals to look forward to after the Vuelta, too.
“I’m doing good, I’m looking forward to slowly getting through this Grand Tour. I’m happy to be back, y’know.
“Burgos was a good tester to decide whether I come here or not. But the main thing was the form was good enough to get around,” he said. “It’s more the case of how the injuries going to go. I’m still experiencing some discomfort, but I’m going to have that for months if not permanently.”
Vine was being realistic about his injuries and the effects, saying, “It’s manageable, to be honest. It’s one of those things, when you break bones, even your collarbone, you feel it forever, you know it’s never going to be the same.
“So it’s just managing that and doing the rehab. I’ve got a daily routine now.”
Regardless of the physical effects, mentally Vine said, his satisfaction with being back racing again was already at its greatest in the Vuelta a Burgos.
“Now I’m just getting used to it again and looking forward to getting back home,” he added about plans after the Vuelta.
“I got the Worlds. I got the callup for the TT and team relay this week, so I’m looking forward to that. Then hopefully I’ll get to do some Italian races at the end of the season as well.”
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