It wasn’t supposed to be an obstacle course, but sometimes you just have to play the hand you’re given.
During the Tour Down Under bike race in Australia on Sunday, January 25, biker Jay Vine was knocked down by two kangaroos along the course, but recovered and eventually won the race.
“Everyone asks me what’s the most dangerous thing in Australia, and I always tell them it’s kangaroos,” Vine said after the race. “They wait and they hide in the bushes until you can’t stop and they jump out in front of you. Point proven today.”
He continued, “Two of them blasted through the peloton when we were doing probably 50 kph (30 mph), and one of them stopped and went left, right, left, right, left, right, and I ended up hitting its backside.”
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Not only did Vine end up recovering and winning the race, he finished one minute and three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Mauro Schmid of Switzerland.
The crash came with just 57 miles to go in the 105-mile race. Vine — from Australia himself — had to change bikes twice after the accident, then rejoined the race.
Three riders — Menno Huising, Lucas Stevenson and Alberto Dainese — were forced to quit the race, and a kangaroo was injured in the crash.
Vine’s teammate, Mikkel Bjerg, was also involved with the crash and retired after the accident.
The TV broadcast of the race captured the moment, which was then posted to social media by Australian news outlet 7NEWS Adelaide.
“There’s been a crash in the peloton,” said one broadcaster.
“Oh, a kangaroo has jumped into the peloton!” said the second announcer. “Never seen that before.”
“Unfortunately one of the hazards of racing in Australia in these regions,” responded the first broadcaster. “Some of the wildlife, you can’t tell them, ‘Don’t go about your day, there’s a bike race on.’”
In the video, Vine can be seen getting up quickly and continuing his race, while one of the kangaroos struggled to get off the course as other bikers had to slow down and stop to let the animal get to the side of the road.
The Tour Down Under marked the first event of the 2026 World Tour. Sunday marked the second time Vine has won the race in the last three years.
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Vine had to overcome more adversity throughout the race, including many of his teammates dropping out before the finish. Two of his seven teammates (including the defending champion Jhonatan Narvaez) crashed out in the fourth stage of the race on Saturday, January 24, then Juan Sebastian Molano dropped out because of fatigue on Sunday.
That left just Vine and three other teammates to finish the race. After Bjerg went down in the kangaroo accident, the team was down even more.
“This year we started off really positive, and we just had more and more bad luck as the race went on,” Vine said. “Today was never going to be easy, and I’ve been saying all week it’s not over until it’s over.
He continued, “But it’s proven to be not over ’til it’s over in this race for us.”