UAE Team Emirates rider Jay Vine will not be defending his Tour Down Under title in January, with the rider from Canberra who successfully stormed through the summer racing in Australia in 2023 opting to build for later season targets in 2024 instead.
Vine said that as he will be riding in both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España next year so, particularly given his late finish to this season, will not be taking part in his home country’s only WorldTour stage race.
After two years where the Tour Down Under did not take place because of COVID-19 restrictions, Vine succeeded fellow Australian Richie Porte as winner of the race in 2023 ahead of Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious).
Apart from missing out on the Tour Down Under, Vine will also not be defending the Australian time trial title he took for the first time in 2023, he revealed during the UAE training camp in Spain.
“I’m doing Giro-Vuelta double again and if I actually do the Vuelta again that takes me well into September,” Vine told Cyclingnews. “So we’ve decided I won’t go to Australia at all and I’m not doing Road Nats, not doing TT Nats, not doing the Tour Down Under.”
Vine said the decision not to go back to Australia was taken roughly a month ago. The course for the 2024 Tour Down Under, featuring a double summit finish at Willunga Hill, unlike in 2023, and a different route up Mount Lofty, also gave added weight to his decision.
“It’s Willunga and Lofty – Lofty’s a lot easier this year," said Vine of the final stage which has less repeats of the finishing climb in 2024. "I would have to be on really good form before January to possibly do anything there.”
“Last year I didn’t do any of my goal races before the Giro, I went straight into the Giro after injury and I want to actually be able to compete in Europe this year so we decided it’s not feasible.”
Yet another reason was that Vine raced until really late in 2023, completing his season at the Tour of Turkey in mid-October.
“At the end of the day turning that around that quickly, it’s just not possible. I’m not as good as [UAE team leader] Tadej [Pogačar],” he said with a smile. “Maybe he can race Il Lombardia and win and do the same in the following February with a 7 Watt per kilo effort – I can’t.”
Regarding one of the key ascents, Willunga Hill, “It’s a really hard climb to win on. My dream is to win there, but the numbers you have to do on that hill…everybody shows up on flying form, but I’d have to prepare from October, not finish in mid-October, take a break and then start in the middle of November. It’s just not possible.”
Vine’s absence removes one major contender from the January race, with Jayco-AIUIa’s Simon Yates and Luke Plapp, Soudal-QuickStep’s Julian Alaphilippe and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) among the stand-out names that have so far been revealed as starters.
