Jay Vine finishes perfect Aussie race with victory in 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships

Australia’s men have completed an outstanding team performance at the 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, placing three riders in the top four including the victory by Jay Vine.

On Saturday evening in continental Europe (Sunday morning Australian time), the Canberran won the rainbow jersey with a thrilling surge on the final climb, with Freddy Ovett sprinting for the silver medal and Ben Hill clinching fourth.

The result capped off a perfect race by the Australian team and was the ultimate reward for the work done mainly by teammates Sam Hill and Torben Partridge-Madsen earlier.

In the Elite Women race, Bre Vine was Australia’s highest finisher in 11th, completing an outstanding representative outing for the Girona-based Vine family.

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Elite Men: Jay Vine wins rainbow bands in thrilling hilltop finale

86 riders started the 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, which were held on Zwift’s ‘Knickerbocker’ route over 54.9 kilometres. It was an Ardennes-like course featuring the rolling roads of Central Park and three steep ascents of the New York KOM (1.4km at 6.1%), culminating in the hilltop finish.

After the first two climbs, a sizable bunch of 63 riders remained in contention until, with 15km remaining, six riders broke away in the Central Park section.

Getting little assistance from other nations, Sam Hill and Torben Partridge-Madsen took responsibility for the chase, setting a firm tempo at around 6.0w/kg to stabilise the gap at 17 seconds. By the foot of the final KOM, the two Australians had reduced the gap to 10 seconds.

On the steep slopes of the final climb, it looked as though Austria’s Rainer Kepplinger might survive from the breakaway. However, the Australians were closing in with Jay Vine surging at over 11 watts per kilogram and Ovett and Ben Hill following.

When the climb flattened out within 500 metres of the finish, defending champion Jason Osborne (Germany) launched past Kepplinger and briefly looked to be on his way to back-to-back world titles.

But behind, the Australians timed their final move to perfection.

Ben Hill went to the front with a hard pull. Out of the wheels, Vine accelerated in the last 300 metres, catching and passing Osborne and Kepplinger on the final kicker and surging clear with to take the world championship in a breathtaking finale.

Ovett followed with a sprint home for the silver medal, while Ben Hill hung on to finish just behind Osborne for fourth, rounding out an outstanding performance for Australia.

Leaving it to the last moment 💥@JayVine3 🇦🇺 passes Jason Osbourne 🇩🇪 in the final metres to become 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Champion in the Men Elite race 🌈#NYZ2022 | @GoZwift pic.twitter.com/ssoQvkYvif

— UCI (@UCI_cycling) February 26, 2022

“The team had to do basically all the work on the last lap to pull the breakaway back,” Vine said. “My plan was always to torch it as hard as I could on that final ramp and try to go over the top with a gap, knowing full well we would have Ben and Freddy in for the sprint in that next group.

“But I was able to regather myself after Jason (Osborne) caught me, and sit in the wheels and go again and catch him, which was really, really good.

“I’m super-stoked with this result, and it’s not every day that you get to do that in front of your wife, and to have her nearly get another top 10 on a course that doesn’t suit her right next to you is pretty special as well.”

Ben Hill was ecstatic to contribute to the Australian performance, saying the squad executed its plans “perfectly”.

“We had to use Torben and Sam before the climb. They did an awesome job, kept us in the race, and then Jay was going to go on the steep part, which he did,” Hill said.

“Freddy and I surfed the wheels behind, but once we got over that, there was a moment we were worried we weren’t going to catch the break. So, I was like, I have to go to catch the guys in front.

“I thought, I need to do the pull for the team here. Jay went again which was incredible, and Freddy also had a sprint, and finished it off.”

Results – Elite Men 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships

1. Jay Vine (AUS) 1:15:41
2. Freddy Ovett (AUS)
3. Jason Osborne (GER)
4.Ben Hill (AUS)
...
61. Sam Hill (AUS)
62. Toben Partridge-Madsen (AUS)
72. Alex Bogna (AUS)
DNF. Aiden Sinclair (AUS)

Elite Women: Bre Vine backs up with 11th despite technical issues affecting Australian team

Neve Bradbury was unable to start the Elite Women UCI Cycling Esports World Championship due to a positive COVID-19 test, leaving Australia with six starters.

As expected, the race was highly attritional, with each climb of the New York QOM whittling down the peloton.

After the second ascent, Bre Vine, Justine Barrow and Katie Banerjee remained in the front group for Australia until an untimely power drop-out saw Banerjee detached through no fault of her own.

Katie Banerjee suffered a technical glitch that dropped her out of the front group.

Despite a series of attacks through Central Park from the USA, the race came back together at foot of the final climb, which would prove decisive.

Defending champion Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (South Africa) was first to attack at the start of the QOM, hitting out at around 8.5w/kg. As the gradients ramped up to 16%, only a handful of riders were able to bridge the gap to the South African. Of those, Loes Adegeest (Netherlands) had the most left, surging ahead in the final 200 metres to cross the line first.

Despite a dropped chain, Bre Vine was Australia’s highest-placed finisher in 11th place, showing her top-10 finish in the 2020 edition was no fluke.

“This has been something I was really focusing on,” Vine said. “I’m not doing a lot of in-real-life racing so 'Zwift Worlds' was something I could target and keep the training motivation up for it.

“I came into it wanting a top 10 knowing that the course didn’t really suit me, and we had a fair few lightweight climbers that could really inflict the pain – and boy did they inflict that pain going up the climb.

“I’m really happy with my race. Unfortunately, I did drop my chain in the final 200 or 300 metres and that took me a little bit to fix. That was me at 192 beats per minute not paying attention and just shifting.

“Really proud to see Jay race and come away with the win. He had some really great form leading into some in-real-life racing and this is just icing on the cake. We were having so much fun when he was racing, singing along to songs and everything.”

Results – Elite Women 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships

1. Loes Adegeest (NED)
2. Cecilia Hansen (SWE)
3. Zoe Langham (GBR)
...
11. Bre Vine (AUS)
17. Justine Barrow (AUS)
37. Sarah Gigante (AUS)
44. Rachael Wales (AUS)
45. Vicki Whitelaw (AUS)
48. Katie Banerjee (AUS)

Watch the full race replay on Zwift's YouTube channel.