Vine takes Zwift way to a professional contract

While Canberra cyclist Jay Vine has the certainty of that one-year contract with Alpecin-Fenix, everything else is up in the air thanks to the coronavirus.

When he'll go and where he'll stay are still in the hands of the gods. Or even worse - government bureaucrats.

Vine hoped he'd fly out in late January and has his sights set on living in Girona, in the north-east of Spain.

It's where fellow Aussies Jai Hindley and Mitch Docker were based.

Alpecin-Fenix are a pro continental team, which is the level below the UCI's World Tour.

But they'll be able to compete at most of the major races, like the Tour de France and the spring classics.

"Everything's fluid at the moment. With all the lockdowns starting to take effect, who knows, I could be living in a hotel or I could be living in a house," Vine said.

"Who knows at the moment. The end goal is to be living in Girona in Spain, but that may happen in February, that may happen in August, who knows.

"Hopefully in the New Year we can get some stuff sorted pretty quickly."

Vine thought his dream of landing a professional contract had been kiboshed by the COVID-19 virus essentially shutting down cycling in Australia this year.

The 25-year-old finished fifth in the Herald Sun Tour and was meant to go to Asia to race with his Nero Continental team.

But by the end of April, Vine felt it was unlikely he would race at all and it would be a year wasted.

That was until the Zwift Academy adjusted their qualification criteria for the usually under-23 entrants.

Vine put all his eggs in the one basket and trained to peak for the Academy.

He not only earnt a spot as one of the finalists, but claimed the contract with his efforts in the two online races after that.

"This year Alpecin-Fenix took over the contract from Zwift and decided to up the ante of, 'We want you on our pro, paid racing team for 2021'," Vine said.

"That means racing with the big boys, possibly even in the Tour de France.

"That after the year I've had of not being able to prove myself was really a no-brainer to go for this.

"It shortcutted myself to the top of the pile and really meant that I don't waste another two years essentially trying to get noticed."

Vine would normally be getting ready to compete in Australia's summer of cycling, which starts with the Bay Criteriums in Geelong and includes the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Road Race.

But with pandemic-induced border closures it's been cut down to the Festival of Cycling and the national championships, with the latter pushed back to February.

So instead, Vine's beginning a training block to be ready for his arrival in Europe.

He'd love to race in the spring classics and of course the Tour.

"We're trying to get over there as soon as possible and get embedded in the team so I can start racing European races - even the lower level European races - so I can learn as much as I can before the big World Tour races start up," Vine said.

"I'm pretty old for being a new cyclist. I'm 25. Most guys are usually getting into the pro ranks around 22-23.

"Every year that got pushed back an extra 10 per cent chance of getting picked up got taken away from me.

"So this was a really important year for me. Really grateful."