Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) reclaimed the Australian elite time trial on Thursday, his winning margin of over 30 seconds at the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships amply indicating that the 2025 World Championship TT silver medallist has delivered on his aim of starting the season with stronger form.
“Last year I was in relatively okay shape, but it just wasn’t good enough,” said Vine. “To get world-class victories, you have to be world class. I didn’t want to leave anything on the table, I worked really hard in winter, drove up and down the mountain more times than I can count in Andorra.
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“I paced it differently to last year,” said Vine. “I really focused on just speed, speed, speed, instead of focusing on the power and being so rigid on the power.
“I’ve developed over the last 12 months based more on feeling than anything; it definitely paid off.”
On the third lap Vine just kept pushing the gap, though it was now O’Brien and Bleddyn that were closest with O’Connor not maintaining his fast opening pace. Bleddyn was spurred on by the shift up the rankings, saying later in an interview on Team Brennan’s Instagram that “I heard on the radio that I was in the hunt for the podium and that kept me going.”