Australian Jay Vine was a man on a mission on stage 20 of the Vuelta a España. His goal was to get any many KOM points as possible to secure the polka-dot jersey before the final climb of the day where GC contenders would be battling on the ascent of Picón Blanco. To do so, the UAE Team Emirates rider made his way into the break of the day early on, where he was soon joined by his teammate Marc Soler who led the mountain classification with a slim 1-point lead on Vine.
While Vine took the points in the first three ascents, Soler went on a solo attack which led to the teammates being tied in the virtual mountain classification with two climbs left to go in the stage. The tactics left many to wonder if the teammates were battling each other for the points, but Vine stated that Soler was simply “a really great teammate.”
“We spoke about it on the rest day that I had unfinished business, and Marc and me agreed that he would help me on the last day,” said Vine who had lead the KOM classification at the 2022 Vuelta before crashing out in the third week.
Joining Vine and Soler in the 10-rider breakaway were Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma) and Marco Frigo (Israel-PremierTech) who were 20 points and 31 points from Soler respectively.
As part of the 10-rider breakaway, Vine took top points on the two cat. 3 climbs of the day, the Las Estacas de Trueba and the Puerto de la Braguía, and became the virtual KOM leader on the road. He added more points on the first cat. 2 of the day, the Alto del Caracol, following Soler’s acceleration. Both Castrillo and Frigo also jumped for points so Vine knew that he had a fight on his hands.
The break shattered as Soler made his trademark solo attack on Portillo de Lunada, the first cat. 1 ascent of the day. The Spaniard crested first, reducing Vine’s lead to only 2 points.
Castrillo and Frigo made it back onto the chase group with Vine and Clément Berthet (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) as the Spaniard continued solo up the road taking the top points on the next climb, the Portillo de la Sia. Vine accelerated away from the chase group to collect the next helping of mountains points. followed by Frigo, and a suffering Castrillo with Berthet in the wheel.
With two climbs remaining on the stage, Soler and Vine were now tied in the virtual KOM standings, each at 76 points.
Castrillo, Berthet, Frigo and Vine reeled Soler back in as the penultimate climb, Puerto de Tornos, loomed on the horizon. To win the KOM jersey, Vine had to get at least one point on the cat. 1 ascent, but easier said than done, as time bonification seconds were also on the line for the first three riders.
Soler put in one last dig, sacrificing himself for his teammate, leaving Vine to take on the pacemaking but the red jersey group gobbled them up with 6.4km to go on the climb, and Vine had to hang onto the elite group.
While the GC contenders took the top 3 positions on the climb, Vine was able to hang on for fourth place, and the associated two points, securing the polka-dot jersey.
“I was told that I needed to take just one more point, and it was all secure. We were really, really under pressure from the guys behind, because they caught us on that cat-2 climb before the cat-1, then would have been all the play for the GC guys to try to take the jersey, so we had to go a really long way into the final.”
Vine ultimately finished 22nd, 6 minutes behind stage winner Eddie Dunbar (EF Education-EasyPost), and 18 seconds behind his teammate Isaac del Toro.
Vine thanked his teammate Soler after the stage.
“He was able to help to tire out the other two that were trying to go for the points, we saw that very early on and then also to keep me super fresh, so that I could go into the final of the stage and try to keep the team GC as well. It turns out we didn’t need that because we had Isaac finishing just in front of me, but he helped out a lot and his legs were super strong. He’s a really great teammate.”
Vine is assured of winning the overall mountain classification barring catastrophe on the final stage on Sunday.
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