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Vine was eleventh overall heading into stage 10, the weather-affected stage prompting a discussion between riders and race staff even ahead of the start. A possible shortening of the stage was considered, before ultimately being rejected.
It was a torrid affair on the road, with eventual winner Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education-EasyPost) describing the race as ‘one of the hardest days I’ve spent on the bike’.
Vine didn’t get the warm feeling that comes with a victory, instead just the cold disappointment of having to chase back from a crash, ultimately losing time on the general classification (GC) after being right in the fight up until that point.
The Australian crashed on a descent alongside Will Barta (Movistar) with 81 kilometres remaining in the race, and although UAE Team Emirates dropped riders back to help, it wasn’t to be for Vine as he finished 11’19 behind stage winner Cort, and over 10 minutes behind the peloton.
“I just got way too cold, simple as that, I think that was the coldest I’ve ever gotten, I was miserable,” Vine said in a post on social media after the stage. “Complete loss of feeling in the fingers and the body didn’t respond well to it.
‘Yeah, I had a small off, but that was a stationary crash, (I just came to a halt and fell over on the slippery part). That wasn’t a problem, the actual damage was me freezing to the core. Just one of those days where everyone freezes.”
“The boys dropped back to help me, and we rolled turns holding the gap for a bit there, but not long after the body had nothing left, we made the tough call and just rolled in.
“Yes, obviously I’m disappointed, but at the end of the day, it’s not the end of the world. And there are more opportunities to come.”
Key GC contender Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) was another loss to the GC battle, almost immediately in trouble off the back of the peloton, and later forced to climb off and end his Giro after 70km of stage 10 run, with his team citing illness.
Watch Stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia on SBS On Demand from 7:30pm (AEST) on May 17, with SBS VICELAND then joining the coverage at 8:30pm (AEST).
