Jay Vine Adds to Car Collection After Santos Tour Down Under Victory
Jay Vine keeps going faster in bike races, and his car collection keeps growing as well.
The 27-year-old Aussie roared to victory Sunday at the Santos Tour Down Under in dominant fashion.
Not listed on the winner’s prize list is what he plans to give himself: a new Bentley.
“My dad has a seven-bay shed,” Vine said Sunday. “I have a mini-Cooper up there, and a VW Beetle from the 60s, and two other H-model Holdens. Cars run in my family.”
His family hails from Queensland, and there are plenty of cars in the garage.
Last year, after winning two stages at the Vuelta a España, his wife promised to buy him a Corvette.
Following his first career stage race victory, he’s expecting even more.
“Hopefully I can add a couple of cars,” Vine said. “There’s the C3 Corvette in the big block, 427 cubic inch. I am going to trying to get that second-hand and bring that back with me to Australia when I retire, and maybe a 2017 Bentley to go cruising with my wife.”
The payback for Vine is sweet in more ways than one.
The 2023 Tour Down Under winner was overlooked for a chance to race Australia’s biggest race four years ago, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Vine later entered the pro ranks via the unconventional route on the Zwift online racing platform, and he’s reconfirming he deserves his place in the WorldTour with every race he starts.
And he’s adding to his car collection.
“We’ve started restoring a Mini Cooper, and I bought that one before I turned professional,” Vine said. “That shows you how much I love cars.”
Vine continues to impress as he fast-tracks higher up the WorldTour hierarchy.
After his back-door entree into the pro ranks via Zwift, Vine quickly proved he deserved to be there. Second in his first pro stage race at the 2021 Tour of Turkey was the first sign he could push the watts.
Two stage wins at the 2022 Vuelta opened doors to joining UAE Emirates, home of two-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar.
Backed by the powerful WorldTour team, Vine is taking another step up in 2023. He won the Australian national time trial title after UAE helped him fine-tune his TT bike, and he delivered his first pro stage race victory Sunday at the Tour Down Under.
The Giro d’Italia is on his radar, and Vine is translating his love of cars to his equal passion for bike racing.
“I am a big fan of Alain Proust in Formula One, and his philosophy was take the risk when you can, and when you have the opportunity, you go all in,” Vine said. “That is how I rode the race. Not getting greedy and going for stage wins when I can take as much time as possible.”
A few more big wins, and Vine will need to start adding his own expanded garage.
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