Australian cyclist Jay Vine has won the Tour Down Under for the second time, overcoming a crash caused by a kangaroo during the final stage. The UAE Team Emirates rider, who also won the event in 2023, held a commanding lead of one minute and three seconds going into Sunday's stage, which proved sufficient despite losing two teammates.
The kangaroo incident occurred with 95km remaining, causing Vine and several other riders to crash. Vine was able to continue, but his Danish teammate Mikkel Bjerg was forced to withdraw due to injury. Colombian Juan Molano also pulled out separately, leaving Vine with only two teammates: British rider Adam Yates and Portuguese rider Ivo Oliveira.
British sprint ace Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease A Bike) won the final stage. A four-rider group, including last year's runner-up Javier Romo, broke away on the last of eight laps but were caught before the finish. Australian Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Rob Stannard (Bahrain Victorious) were part of an earlier break that built a lead of over three minutes, but they were also reeled in.
The stage was the longest in Tour history at 169.8km, after Saturday's stage was shortened from 176km to 131km due to bushfire risk. Temperatures were in the 30s Celsius, lower than Saturday's 40C-plus, but still challenging. The eight circuits at Stirling featured 529 metres of climbing per lap, totalling 3,436 metres for the stage.
Vine's winning margin of 1:03 is the second-largest in Tour history, behind Pat Jonker's 1:13 in 2004. Fellow Australian Harry Sweeny (EF Education Easypost) finished third overall at 1:12. The race also saw drama off the road, with four protesters arrested for attempting to disrupt the event over Santos' title sponsorship.
