This time last year Jay Vine was in a neck brace, and just in the early stages of a recovery from a horrible accident at Itzulia Basque Country that had put him in intensive care with multiple fractured vertebrae and facing a challenging recovery ahead. "I could have been retired after three and a half seasons," Vine reflected, as he sat in the lobby of Hilton in Adelaide at the Tour Down Under while starting a season that might never have happened had some of the worst-case scenarios after that fall on stage 4 of the Spanish WorldTour race materialised. The goal on which the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had been so focused in early 2024 - working toward a Giro d'Italia where he would support Tadej Pogačar - was all of a sudden out of mind. There were more pressing concerns. "I was really looking forward to doing the Giro with Tadej," said Vine. "That was the massive, massive goal for that year," he added, telling Cyclingnews that being part of a Grand Tour-winning team was something he had wanted to tick off in his professional career. "I was disappointed that I didn't get to do that with Tadej, but after the accident, I mean, every day was sort of like a blessing. I'm the luckiest unlucky person around, with the way that whole accident played out in the end – being able to first walk, then ride, then race again." Vine started off riding uphill and then ultimately progressed to pinning on a number again, just a little more than four months after the career-threatening crash, at Vuelta a Burgos, where he even claimed a victory in the stage 4 time trial. He then welcomed his son into the world before the Vuelta a España, where he claimed the King of the Mountains jersey, and he was also part of Australia's winning mixed relay team at the Road World Championships. Get The Leadout Newsletter The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors Claiming the climbers jersey at the 2024 Vuelta a España (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com) The end of the season provided Vine the confidence he needed to once again set the Giro d’Italia as the first big target of the year in 2025. After racing the Tour Down Under, Vine was "following the summer all the way back to Europe" with participations in the Tour of Oman and the UAE Tour. The Coppi e Bartali stage race was his first on the continent and with it came his first wins - victories on stages 3 and 5. Since then, Vine has been training at altitude, joining the team at Sierra Nevada firstly in preparation for the Tour de Romandie from April 29 to May 4. After that, he is expected to line up in the UAE Team Emirates-XRG Giro d’Italia squad. Given his trajectory since returning from injury, it may be tempting to think that everything is back to normal. However, Vine has had to get used to a new type of normal. 'You can’t uncrush a vertebra' Even though Vine managed to begin racing just four months after the horrific crash, and also got through an entire Vuelta a España, the imprint of what had occurred on that fast downhill curve on the road to Legutio certainly hadn't disappeared. That new normal, firstly, has a physical component. "I mean, there was a long recovery and I was still having back problems all through the race," said Vine, looking back to his initial return events in August of 2024. "And I still have to do rehab for the rest of my life, basically, because I have a crushed vertebra – you can't uncrush a vertebra." "The rehab was still progressing, and the doctors had told me ... well, you might never be symptom-free. It'll just progressively get better and better, and you'll learn to deal with it." There were other ramifications, too. When Vine crashed, his wife, Bre, who was also a powerful force in the Australian domestic cycling scene as Vine was pushing toward the top level at home, was heavily pregnant with their first child. As any parent knows, there is nothing like an imminent arrival to put financial security in the spotlight, particularly when a potentially career-ending, life-changing accident is also thrown into the mix. All of a sudden, investments, life insurance and all that came along with it "to try to make sure my family's sorted if something does go wrong again" came into play. Safety, too, was an issue at the forefront, although not so much when it came to Vine's personal behaviour, as he pointed out that his approach already was one which prioritised risk minimisation. "I mean, I never used to take extreme risks, as it was," said Vine. "I'm one of the slowest people in training because there's absolutely no need to take risks in training – I've never crashed during a training ride to date, touch wood. There's no need to take the risk. "So that really hasn't changed but just assessing how I can best look after my family has become a lot more in the forefront of my mind, that's for sure,” said the rider who had his wife and baby by his side in Australia at the start of the season, snatching any spare moment to block out the buzz around the bike race and absorb every second available being enthralled with his son. What Vine can control himself is one thing, but the broader safety issues clearly weigh on his mind. "My perspective on the sport on safety is that it's still a very old sport in terms of that aspect of it. I mean innovation, we've come leaps and bounds in the last even 10 years with nutrition, tyres, feeding, fueling, training, aero clothing and stuff like that. Then, when it comes to safety, we're still in the dark ages," said Vine, adding that it was basically just a helmet. "There's no extra shielding in the Lycra or anything. There's no concussion transponder in the helmets. "With the safety aspect, I think there's a lot to improve there." When asked if there was one thing he could click his fingers and have instantly changed, Vine pointed to additional concussion protection in helmets, though it's clear that he wants the UCI to take responsibility for guiding this and more. "They make a rule, it changes the sport," said Vine when asked who should be driving the improvements. "A bit like in Formula One, when they introduced the Halo and made it mandatory to put a Halo on the car, no longer did you have cars without Halos." The waiting game Jay Vine in the race against the clock at the 2025 UAE Tour (Image credit: Getty Images) The 29-year-old entered the world of professional cycling in 2021 via an Alpecin-Fenix contract secured through the Zwift Academy. His goal was first to turn the opening chance into another year and then into a career – at minimum – of ten years which would take him through to 35. He quickly proved that his talent in a virtual environment translated to the road, earned an additional year with Alpecin and then signed with UAE Team Emirates-XRG from 2023 and is set to stay there at least through to the end of 2027. His mix of climbing and time trialling abilities at many teams might make him an obvious GC contender at Grand Tours, though a place on UAE Team Emirates-XRG means those leadership positions are hard to come by at any event, let alone one of the three-week races. Vine may have put his hand up early for leadership when he started out by sweeping up the overall win at the Tour Down Under in his very first race with the team. Even when he returned at the start of 2025 as a previous race winner, though, he was quick to joke before the race started that "even if I muck it up, we've got someone else" referring to Jhonatan Narváez, who ended up capturing this year's edition. The same can be said for just about any race the world’s number one-ranked team enters, with the strength of the squad meaning it generally runs far deeper than Plan A. Plus, of course, anytime Pogačar is lining up, there is no need to guess who that Plan A is. Still, that doesn’t mean Vine has shelved all Grand Tour GC ambitions, with his focus for now on being part of a Grand Tour winning team but with individual hopes still simmering. "If there's a chance for me, if there's a spot for me, sure,” said Vine when asked if he hopes to chase the overall at a Grand Tour at some point. ”On this team, there's so many guys that are wanting that extra spot, and now the boss [Pogačar] is doing two Grand Tours a year, there's one less Grand Tour to show up to and have leadership at. So, I mean, if I have to wait a couple of years, not too fussed.” Vine, after racing Tour de Romandie in support of João Almeida, is expected to start among a Giro d'Italia team brimming with potential GC contenders from Juan Ayuso to Adam Yates and the rising young star Isaac del Toro. The deck may be stacked but that doesn't mean an absence of opportunity for the Australian. The first target he mentioned as he looked ahead to the Giro d'Italia at the start of the season was, not surprisingly, after 2024, to make it to the start line of the race. Vine then quickly cast to the 13.7km individual time trial on stage 2 and 28.6km race against the clock on stage 10. "The two TTs are my main focus for the race," said Vine. "Whatever else comes with it, I'm not too fussed by. Like I said, my goal is to win a Grand Tour with the team."