Jay Vine’s return from injury cut short with crash and abandon on stage 3 of Volta a Catalunya

Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) had his return to racing from injury cut short on stage 3 of Volta a Catalunya, with a crash at around 70km to go.

The Australian time trial champion came down in a crash which saw at least five riders hitting the ground.

As television cameras panned back to the aftermath of the crash others involved, such as Leo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Josh Kench (Groupama-FDJ United) could be seen getting bikes and heading back off to try and rejoin the race. Vine’s teammate Ivo Oliveira, the national champion from Portugal, was also helped up but then continued on to finish the stage as the last rider across the line, in 155th spot at 12:11 down on stage winner Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers).

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Vine, however, was visible in a deep roadside gutter. He got up but signalled that the new bike that was rushed to him from the car wouldn’t be needed – it was race over.

Vine got into the team car and it was a DNF on the results sheet for his first race back after the Tour Down Under in January, where he got through the final stage to claim overall victory despite a crash involving a kangaroo that came jumping into the peloton.

That January crash cut short Vine’s successful run in what had been a diligently prepared for season start, which began with Vine clinching Australia’s national time trial title and continued on with a stage and overall victory in the South Australian race. Though the crash of that event then left him with a fractured wrist and out of the racing until the Volta a Catalunya, where he was still managing the impact of the increased load of racing on his wrist.

At the time of writing there was yet to be a medical update released by the team following Vine’s crash on Wednesday.

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Vine has had to deal with a number of injury comebacks during his career, most notably the long recovery from a terrible crash at Itzulia Basque Country in 2024 involving multiple riders that left him with multiple vertebrae fractures. He returned with strong form later that season and continued into a strong 2025, which included two Grand Tours, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, and two individual stage wins at the Spanish Grand Tour.

Vine had outlined the Giro d’Italia, starting on May 8, as among his 2026 targets. It has a 40.2km individual time trial on stage 10.