Australian Jay Vine staked his claim to again become the king of the Santos Tour Down Under after blowing the rival peloton to pieces during the Corkscrew Road climb on Thursday.
The 2023 Santos Tour Down Under champion claimed the Health Partners Stage 2 ahead of his UAE Emirates XRG teammate, Jhonatan Narvaez.
Vine is now 1min 05secs ahead of the team’s nearest rival, Jayco AlUla’s Swiss road champion Mauro Schmid and six seconds ahead of Narvaez, who won the race last year.
“Adam (Yates teammate) did an amazing job in the lead out (up the Corkscrew Road climb),” Vine said.
“After such a committed day by the whole team, for it all go to plan at the end was really nice.”
It was Vine’s first stage win at the Tour Down Under after claiming four stages of the Vuelta a España and winning the King of the Mountain jersey at the coveted Spanish race.
Vine and Narvaez finished first and second at the Uraidla finish line.
The Australian 2026 individual time trial champion will wear the Santos Ochre Leader’s Jersey for Friday’s Ziptrak Stage 3 from Henley Beach to Nairne.
Despite his commanding lead, Vine wouldn’t declare that the race was over.
“Anything can happen, but to have such a big lead compared to my last Tour (overall win in 2023), it’s a lot more secure,’’ Vine said.
“We’ve also got Jhonny (Narvaez) in second now, we’re in a very strong position here.”
Pedalling off from Norwood, the stage lit up when Wednesday’s efex King of the Mountain jersey winner Martin Urianstad Bugge (UnoX Mobility), led a seven-man breakaway to claim more points at Ashton. Urianstad Bugge had earned 20 KOM points at that point in the race.
Australia’s Jensen Plowright (Alpecin – Premier Tech) then led the way, ahead of Croatia’s only rider at the race Fran Miholjevic (Bahrain Victorious), towards the Uraidla finish, as the unforgiving short but yet arduous Corkscrew Road approached and needed to be conquered twice in the 148.1km race.
At the 21km mark, the magnificent seven were 2min 02sec ahead of the main peloton before passing the Uraidla finish line.
Wednesday’s affable Vanguard Stage 1 winner, Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) was at the front of the group, about one kilometre from the first Ziptrak intermediate sprint at Lobethal.
The main peloton was clocked at 93km/h on Gorge Road in a bid to get team strategies right at the base of the Corkscrew for the first time, despite being 2min 30sec behind the breakaway.
Narvaez had a mechanical just before the Corkscrew, which forced his UAE Team Emirates XRG teammates to pace the Ecuadorian back to the main peloton during the climb.
Soudal Quick-Step’s Pepijn Reinderink earned maximum efex King of the Mountain points at the top of the Corkscrew Road summit for the first time.
Plowright gained three valuable bonus Ziptrak intermediate sprint seconds ahead of Miholjevic and Urianstad Brugge at the end of the second lap at Uraidla before teams lined up their best hopes of winning the stage in the Adelaide Hills town.
UAE Emirates XRG tried to position its stage contenders, Vine and Narvaez, towards the front before the second climb up the Corkscrew.
The break was caught just before the start of the second climb before Vine, and Yates led the front of the race before efex King of the Mountain points at the top of the Corkscrew summit.
Vine attacked with incredible timing with then Narvaez on his tail after Yates did all the hard work before the KOM reward.
The pair dropped all rivals to open a 15-second gap after Vine earned maximum KOM points ahead of Narvaez and Italy’s Filippo Zana (Soudal Quick-Step).
The results
HEALTH PARTNERS MEN’S STAGE 2 WINNER – Jay Vine (UAE Emirates XRG)
SANTOS OCHRE LEADER’S JERSEY – Jay Vine (UAE Emirates XRG)
ZIPTRAK SPRINT JERSEY – Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM Team)
EFEX KING OF THE MOUNTAIN – Martin Urianstad Bugge (UnoX Mobility)
MYWHOOSH YOUNG RIDER’S JERSEY – Michael Leonard (EF Education Easypost)
YAMAHA MOST COMPETITIVE RIDER – Peijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step)
