Australian cycling star Jay Vine has survived a race crash caused by two kangaroos to win the Tour Down Under for the second time.
While other riders were hurt in the pileup, it is understood their injuries were not serious and the incident could have been much worse. At least one of the kangaroos had to be euthanised because of its injuries.
Vine repeated his 2023 Santos Tour title despite losing another two UAE Team Emirates during Sunday's final stage, including one in the kangaroos collision.
That meant they were down to three riders out of seven, but the Australian was clearly the strongest in the race and he kept his whopping one minute three seconds overall lead.
"It's a whirlwind, I don't really know how to process all this," Vine said.
"It's really incredible to wear this jersey, but I just can't fathom how we had so much bad luck as a team over the last couple of days.
"All the Europeans ask me what's the most dangerous animal in Australia. I always tell them it's the kangaroos.
"They wait in the bushes until you cannot stop and then they jump out in front of you.
"In all seriousness ... we lost Mikkel (teammate Mikkel Bjerg) and he knocked the kangaroo into me."
Vine needed a bike change after the accident with about 95km left in the stage, but otherwise was unaffected.
He added he would be fielding a "pretty big bar tab" after his teammates, especially Adam Vine and Ivo Oliveira, made sure the Australian would win the Tour again.
British sprint ace Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease A Bike) lost teammate Menno Huissing in the crash and then won the stage.
Race director Stuart O'Grady said Sunday's stage was among the best he had seen at the Tour Down Under, but the bizarre circumstances around the crash overshadowed the day's racing.
"You can't really predict two kangaroos jumping across the road - I hope everyone is alright," Brennan said.
"They were quite big - I wasn't expecting that. I just looked to the right and I saw this big animal. I thought 'oh, you're not meant to be here'.
"All the Aussie boys were like 'they come in pairs' and then all of a sudden the second one comes along and decides he's going to throw himself in front of the peloton.
"So we had two sacrificial kangaroos today."
The crash came a day after the iconic Willunga Hill climb was taken out of the Tour's Queen stage because of bushfire fears.
Vine also lost two teammates on that stage, including defending Tour champion Jhonatan Narvaez, who suffered several thoracic vertebrae fractures in a crash.
At the start of Sunday's pulsating 169.5km stage at Stirling - the longest in Tour history - four people protesting about Santos' sponsorship were arrested.
The Tour win comes two years after Vine was badly hurt in a Spanish race crash. He and wife Bre have also had a son, Harrison, and another baby is on the way.
"I've been there, I know how it is to lose half a season because you have broken bones," he said.
"We were just trying to focus on getting back on the bike in that year."
🔁 It's a double bike change for 🧡 Jay Vine, who was caught in an incident between riders and a kangaroo. The race leader is back in the peloton, and we do hope that everyone involved, rider and animal, is alright 🤞
— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴♀️ (@tourdownunder) January 25, 2026
📺 Stream the race now on @7plus: https://t.co/k2Exq3GblT… pic.twitter.com/QdapeV6QEJ
Australian Pat Jonker is the only other Tour winner to win by more than a minute, with his 1:13 margin in 2004. Twice, the overall result has been decided on countback.
The eight circuits at Stirling in the Adelaide Hills were raced in lower temperatures than Saturday's 40-plus oven, but it was still in the 30s.
Australians Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Rob Stannard (Bahrain Victorious) were in an early breakaway group of four that built a lead of more than three minutes, but they were never allowed too much leeway.
Plapp's Swiss teammate Mauro Schmid held onto his second placing overall.
Fellow Australian Harry Sweeny (EF Education Easypost) took third overall at 1:12 in a breakthrough performance.
