It’s typically not normal to send a Zwift Academy winner to a Grand Tour, but Jay Vine has shown he’s not a typical Zwift Academy rider.
He launched himself onto the world stage with a strong performance at Tour of Turkey, where he placed 2nd in the General Classification, only one second behind the overall winner.
Vine continued his strong season with an impressive fifth place on the queen stage of Vuelta Burgos where he climbed with some of the best WorldTour climbers. This early-season success had the cycling community buzzing with theories of Vine’s contract extension.
These theories were heightened when Vine showed his versatility during the first half of La Vuelta España.
The Canberra product was one of the strongest riders who managed to get away in a forced break during Stage seven before demonstrating he can also do the hard yards by spending time on the front of the peloton for Alpecin-Fenix teammate and sprinter Jasper Phillipsen.
If that wasn’t already enough, Vine topped it off during Stage 12 where he almost stole the show from the sprinters and made the reduced peloton chase him until 550 meters to go.
During Stage 13 of La Vuelta España, Alpecin-Fenix released a press release giving everyone the news we’ve all been waiting for, ‘the Zwift Academy winner Jay Vine signs a two-year contract extension’.
With a contract until the end of 2023, Vine is looking to the future with some big opportunities in front of him.
“I’m ecstatic and so relieved to have signed another two-year extension with Alpecin-Fenix. Bre and I committed everything we had to make this work and to secure more years racing in Europe. Even though the Zwift Academy contract is initially only for one year, we decided to sell everything we owned back in Australia and make the move over for the long term”.
Vine has hit the ground running when it comes to taking the step up from Australian domestic racing into the fast-paced World Tour Peloton.
“From the get-go, Alpecin has been wanting to give me opportunities and help develop me as a rider. They didn't want to just chuck me in the deep end, and have it be a sink or swim situation
“Tour of Turkey was my first race and the first time I got to meet some of the staff and riders, and it was really incredible how they developed from 'easing' me into the pro peloton, to then fully backing me to be up there for the win a stage, then believing in me for contending in the general classification. To where I am now, racing my first Grand Tour and having the full support of the team around me.”
“I'm so relieved and thankful for the opportunity the team and Zwift gave me, acting as a launching pad for me to race in Europe. I didn’t want to let this opportunity go to waste, and to say Zwift Academy has been life-changing would be an understatement”
Despite coming to the professional peloton through Zwift Academy, and the misconceptions of not coming up the ranks through the typical avenue. Vine has shown he’s not afraid to take on the European racing scene with twice the peloton, double the distance and half the road to what he’s used to. Vine has made it abundantly clear he has fast learning and is up to the challenge.
Despite Vine’s best efforts to try and turn professional throughout 2020, it was looking like there would be no cigar. Covid hit just as Jay was going to race within Asia, and thus locking down the world and all opportunities for the Australian, the idea of becoming a pro seemed like a pipe dream. The Zwift Academy was Jay’s golden ticket to get to Europe and turn professional, the Zwift Academy contract is initially only for one year, and it’s rather rare for riders to receive a contract extension, but Vine has managed to secure the additional two years.
Alpecin-Fenix has shown they are a force to be reckoned with after a strong performance in week one of La Vuelta with two-stage wins; and plenty of hard-fought battles in the early stages.
The Belgium based team is down two riders, with Jasper Philipsen abandoning the race due to a fever, and Tobias Bayer abanding after a hard crash during stage 12.
Despite this, Alpecin has shown they are willing to animate the race, and even more so with Vine having an extra spring in his step after the announcement of his contract extension.
With over eight stages to go in La Vuelta España as we go even deeper into the mountains, the Canberra local is known for his climbing abilities and week three has plenty of mountains for Vine to test the legs on.
“This year has been a huge learning experience for me, and I can’t wait to see where the team and I will go over the next few years.”
Vine doesn't know what the rest of the 2021 racing calendar looks like, but with his current form, could we be seeing him race his bucket list race of Lombardia?
Jay previously spoke to us about how the classic screamed at him when he first started watching bike racing back in 2014. Possibly a fairytale ending to finish Vine’s already fairytale-like season.
