Australia’s extreme heat isn’t the only danger to the riders of the WorldTour opener Tour Down Under. On Sunday’s final stage, a kangaroo caused an accident that took down race leader Jay Vine and forced Vine’s teammate from the race.
It happened with 95.5 km to go and the peloton about to bring back a three-man break. A marsupial jumped onto the road and was struck by at least one rider, creating a pile up. The kangaroo was in great distress and it would be miraculous if it escaped injury. Vine was down on the deck alongside a teammate. Vine was able to carry on but his teammate Mikkel Bjerg and three others had to drop out.
Vine in the ochre jersey gets back on his bike while Bjerg remains on the deck.
The breakaway received a reinforcement and its lead ballooned again. UAE-Emirates received help from Michael Leonard’s EF Education-Easypost to continue the pursuit.
The race finale is in Stirling.
Vine has a sizable lead, 1:03 over second place Mauro Schmid, but UAE-Emirates has been snakebit in this race, with Adam Yates crashing, Jhonatan Narvaez crashing out while occupying second place and now the kangaroo collision. Vine had two teammates left.