Following his involvement in the mass crash on stage 4 of Itzulia Basque Country back in April, Jay Vine has given an update on his recovery from multiple vertebrae fractures sustained in the fall.
The Australian has been out of action and off the bike for almost two months following the crash, which also involved Tour de France contenders Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, and Primož Roglič.
Earlier this week he was cleared to start "gentle training" by his UAE Team Emirates team, and on Thursday he posted to Instagram to detail his progress, which at the moment is limited to training uphill.
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"Time for an update," Vine wrote. "It's been a long 8 weeks full of various scans, physiotherapy, rehabilitation sessions, indoor trainer rides and (everything else in between) but my recovery has been coming along nicely.
"The team have been working hard to optimise and ensure I make a full recovery, and I'm stoked to say the doctors gave me the approval to remove the neck brace a few days ago, and they even gave the a-okay to ride my bike outside! (granted yes, I'm only allowed to ride uphill, but it's better than nothing!).
"Luckily here in Andorra there are more than a few reasonably long climbs, so I'll ride up then have Bre drive me back down the mountain, and repeat."
Vine had been set to be part of the UAE support squad as team leader Tadej Pogačar seeks to complete the Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double this season, with the Giro and Vuelta a España set to feature on his 2024 race calendar.
However, his season plans, which kicked off with the UAE Tour and Paris-Nice – including several days in the race lead at the former – have taken a major hit as a result of the Itzulia Basque Country crash and his injuries.
Vine wrote that he's "starting to feel more like myself again" but acknowledged that he and his team do not yet know when he'll return to racing.
"I'm still not 100% and I know it will take a while to get used to all the new sensations, but overall it's a massive step in the right direction, and I'm starting to feel more like myself again," Vine wrote.
"No, we don't know when or what my races will be, first priority is getting some kind of base training done and make sure there's no flare-ups, and we'll assess and go from there. Not to fear we are taking our time and making sure all the temps and pressures are in the green before we start the engine properly."
