Jay Vine's year just keeps getting better and better: in early January, he won the time trial at the Australian Championships on his first attempt, and now he wears the ochre leader's jersey in the Santos Tour Down Under. Richie Porte has won this race twice. It's very special to be able to wear the jersey and to be able to bring it home on Sunday night," Wein said in response to a question from famed cycling commentator Matthew Keenan for a live race broadcast.

If the start of 2023 is any indication of what lies ahead, we may get used to talking to him in the coming months and years.

Vine's career trajectory has been increasingly rocky: shuttled to Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic (which sealed the border and severely limited opportunities for professional cyclists), he was able to find his way through the Zwift Academy to the then He succeeded in signing a professional contract with the team that was then the Alpecin Phoenix. That first contract was extended for a year, but Wein left early to join UAE team Emirates in 2023.

"I love it when a plan comes together," said Wein, quoting a line often used in the former action-adventure TV series The A-Team. But I couldn't have done it without my team. They helped me all day long, and they did a great job."

The Corkscrew climb on stage 3 of the Tour Down Under, which culminated just 5.8km from the end of the 116km race, was expected to be pivotal for GC. Wein started the race in second place, three seconds behind race leader Rohan Dennis (Jumbo Visma). This was always expected to be a climb where the UAE Team Emirates riders would excel. Even Dennis said, "It's more of a Jay Vine climb than a Rohan Dennis climb."

Dennis was right. He suffered mechanical problems and had to back off. He went on the attack with Simon Yates (Jayco Alura) and Pero Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious). "There was no time difference, nothing, and I couldn't get a radio signal on the Corkscrew climb.

"When the race ended on the downhill to Campbeltown, I've seen a lot of big groups coming back and there was a big group behind us.

Vine finished the stage in third place behind Bilbao and Yates, but his gains over the next few days of racing put him 15 and 16 seconds behind his two top rivals, Yates and Bilbao, respectively. Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers), in the white jersey, leads by 45 seconds. Wein built a buffer, but it was not large enough for Wein to feel comfortable.

"If I could have gotten three more Corkscrews, I would have been fine, but there are a lot of roads from here to Sunday evening, so I'm definitely going to keep it low key," Wein said.

Saturday's 133.2 km stage from Port Willunga to Willunga Township is expected to be a day for sprinters, while Sunday's short but sharp 112.5 km finale will challenge Mount Lofty five times.

"In this race, you never know what can happen from anywhere.

"Sometimes you get unlucky in the last 5km and don't make it. Lofty is a really, really difficult stage and if it plays out like the classics it will be a really tough day.