Jay Vine (Alpecin-Deceuninck) secured the first win of his professional career on stage 6 of the Vuelta a España, attacking on the final climb and fending off a determined chase by Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Enric Mas (Movistar).
It all came down to the first major summit finish of the Vuelta on Stage 6, but rather than the general classification favourites taking the win, it was Australian Vine who sprang out of the peloton with 10 kilometres to go.
Despite attacks from Evenepoel and Mas that featured the big names of the sport going flat out on the mist-shrouded slopes, Vine clung doggedly to a 20-second lead for most of the ascent and emerged at the top the winner of the stage.
“It is almost unreal,” said Vine. “There were so many Ks to go, I missed the break, I got a flat tire in the first five Ks. And even though it was still the team’s plan if it came back together for me to go on the final climb, it was unreal to be able to do that. And to do that from the GC group is incredible.
“I have been working towards this all year after last year, coming so close. It is a dream come true.”
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'Turning pro' the Jay Vine way
Vine was a later entrant to road cycling than many, but he has marked every year in the sport with dramatic progression to the point where he’s now taking wins up against the best riders in the world. The Canberran put his rise to the top to his wife, Bre, who gave up her government job when moving with Jay first to Spain and now to Andorra to live out his professional cyclist dream
“This is for my wife, who has basically just done everything for me for the last three or four years just to get me to this point. I guess it is time for me to get a Corvette now.”
Evenepoel and Mas crossed 15 and 16 seconds behind Vine, while defending champion Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) was below his best in the wet, conditions and led in a big group of chasers for fifth, over a minute and a half behind Vine.
Evenepoel took the red jersey through his efforts and is now 21 seconds ahead of overnight leader Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ). Mas is seven seconds further back while Roglič’s pre-stage ascendancy over his main rivals has morphed into a minute and one-second deficit to Evenepoel.
La Vuelta continues tonight with another climbing stage, with the Puerto de San Glorio coming in the middle of the stage and making it one likely to be taken out by the early attackers. Watch LIVE and FREE on SBS and SBS On Demand from 10:50pm AEST for all the action from the race.
