Jay Vine wins elite men's time trial national championship

Canberra's Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has won his second career national title in the individual time trial, triumphing in Perth today.

An emphatic performance saw Vine take the win on the second day of the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships under cool, gusty conditions.

The 30-year-old rode strongly and consistently to complete the 39-kilometre course around Bold Park in 46:52.82.

Team pursuit Olympic gold medallists Oliver Bleddyn (Team Brennan) and Kelland O'Brien (Team Jayco AlUla) rounded out the podium over half a minute behind.

Pre-race favourite Lucas Plapp finished surprisingly off the pace, some 2 minutes 44 seconds behind. Tour de France stage winner Ben O'Connor started rapidly but faded to fourth by the finish.

Vine now becomes a national time trial champion for the second time, having won his first title in 2023.

“I’m really happy where the form is, I’ve worked really hard,” Vine said.

“It is always nice pulling on the green and gold, I’ve only done it once and it is really nice to do it again.

“Last year I was in relatively okay shape, but it just wasn’t good enough. To get world-class victories, you have to be world-class. I didn’t want to leave anything on the table, I worked really hard in winter, drove up and down the mountain more times than I can count in Andorra.

 “It is really special to get to wear the green-and-gold jersey. When we go over to Europe all year, to do it in the green-and-gold is pretty special. The yellow sleeves, I have a lot of races this year that I’ll get to race in it.”

 The competitors were challenged with tough headwinds throughout the four laps of the circuit, and Vine believes key changes he made to his approach over the last 12 months helped him to claim the national title.

 “I paced it differently to last year, I really focused on just speed, speed, speed, instead of focusing on the power and being so rigid on the power.

“I’ve developed over the last 12 months based more on feeling than anything; it definitely paid off.

Vine will now turn his attention to Sunday’s road race in Kings Park before going on to the Tour Down Under.

1. Jay VINE (UAE Team Emirates) 35:16.30
2. Kelland O'BRIEN (Team Jayco AlUla) +18.78
3. Oliver BLEDDYN (Team Brennan) +19.73
4. Ben O'CONNOR (Team Jayco AlUla) +28.38
5. Conor LEAHY (Team Brennan) +53.09

Photos: Zac Williams and Chris Auld