Team UAE licking wounds after Vine becomes fourth rider sidelined in Tour Down Under victory as Pogačar’s super team chases 100 wins in 2026.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Updated January 28, 2026 01:57AM
Jay Vine is the latest to join a fast-filling infirmary at team UAE as the super team counts the cost of its season-opening victory at the Santos Tour Down Under.
UAE Emirates-XRG revealed Vine broke his wrist when he crashed amid the carnage caused by two kangaroos hopping into the speeding bunch on the final stage of the Aussie race.
“After the race, Jay reported pain in his wrist from his crash during the final stage. After medical review, it was found that he sustained a significant left wrist scaphoid fracture, and underwent successful surgery on Tuesday morning,” read the update Tuesday.
“He will be withdrawn from competition for post-op recovery and rehabilitation.”
Vine joins Jhonatan Narváez, Vegard Stake Laengen, and Mikkel Bjerg in being sidelined from Tadej Pogačar’s super team after only one week of WorldTour racing.
UAE loses four in one week
Narvaez and Bjerg are also out of action after their season debut in Australia. (Photo: Con Chronis/Getty Images)
It’s a tough start for UAE Team Emirates as it looks to top its historic 2025 season. Pogačar led the $60 million mega-squad to 97 wins last year, and it’s hoping to hit triple figures in 2026.
Vine is due to play superdomestique for João Almeida this May at the Giro d’Italia in what’s already being touted a super-team brawl with Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike.
The 30-year-old will be recovered for the May Grande Partenza, but will be down on his training schedule.
Narváez is another costly loss for UAE Emirates XRG as it warms its engine for the new season.
The Ecuadorian star is one of Pogačar’s key sidekicks in the classics. He was instrumental in UAE’s assault on the Cipressa of Milan-San Remo last March as it looked to launch King Pog into monument orbit.
Narváez and his teammate Laengen both crashed on stage 4 of the Tour Down Under last week. Narváez “sustained several stable thoracic vertebrae compression fractures,” while Laengen injured his ribs.
It’s unclear how long Narváez will be out of action or whether he’ll be fit to join Pogačar for his early-season blitz on the classics, starting March 7 at Strade Bianche.
Multiple injuries in kangaroo chaos: ‘They’re the most dangerous thing in Australia’
Multiple riders were brought down and injured when kangaroos hopped in to the bunch at TDU. (Photo: Con Chronis/Getty Images)
Vine is only the latest confirmed casualty from the chaos that unfurled when two rogue kangaroos bounded into the Tour Down Under on Sunday.
UAE Emirates workhorse Bjerg was reported by DR Sporten to have broken a joint in his shoulder and hand, and Visma-Lease a Bike’s Menno Huising broke his collarbone in the incident.
Bjerg, Huising, and two others abandoned immediately after the marsupial mangled the peloton. One of the animals was also reported to be injured.
“Everyone asks me what’s the most dangerous thing in Australia. I always tell them it’s kangaroos,” Vine told ABC Australia on Sunday after he successfully finished the final stage with a broken wrist and won the Ochre jersey.
“They wait and they hide in the bushes until you can’t stop and they jump out in front of you. Point proven today.”