Jay Vine storms to Stage 10 win at Vuelta a Espana as Jonas Vingegaard snatches back red from Torstein Traeen

Australia’s Jay Vine stormed to a second win in Stage 10 of La Vuelta to consolidate his lead in the polka dot standings as Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard moved back into the red jersey after Norway’s Torstein Traeen was distanced on a gripping summit showdown on the tough Puerto de Belagua climb in the Pyrenees.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) moved back into the leader’s red jersey for the third time in the race as Australia’s Jay Vine (UAE Emirates-XRG) doubled up with a trademark mountaintop win from the breakaway in Stage 10 of La Vuelta.

On a day where UAE were under the spotlight thanks to incendiary comments made by the soon-to-be-departing Juan Ayuso ahead of the stage, Vine let his legs do the talking to secure his second – and his team’s fourth – stage win of an otherwise successful race for UAE.

The in-form Vine proved himself the strongest of a large 30-man breakaway to consolidate his grip on the polka dot jersey standings ahead of Movistar duo Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo, who took second and third place.

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Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) led the group of general classification (GC) favourites over the line around one minute down on stage winner Vine as Vingegaard wrested the red jersey from Torstein Traeen’s (Bahrain Victorious) back.

Norway’s Traeen was distanced on the final climb and finished the 175-kilometre stage 1'03" down on the majority of the main GC contenders.

Vingegaard now leads Traeen by 26 seconds in the new-look general classification, with Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Emirates-XRG) a further 12 seconds back and the impressive Pidcock in fourth at 58 seconds.

Pidcock feeling 'super good' amid GC tilt

Video credit: TNT Sports

A fast and furious start to the second phase of La Vuelta saw the peloton blow away the rest day cobwebs with an average pace of over 50km/h in the opening two hours of racing, with the tempo so severe that a breakaway did not form until just 70km were left to race.

When the large move formed, Vine was one of the last riders to bridge over: the Australian closed the gap alongside team-mate Mikkel Bjerg (UAE) as 30 riders eventually came together on the front of the race ahead of the day’s two categorised climbs.

But it was Spaniard Romo who first rolled the dice on the Cat.3 Alto de Las Coronas, denying Vine maximum KOM points over the summit as the race entered its endgame.

Vine caught Romo on the descent before the duo were joined by Romo’s Movistar team-mate Castrillo along with Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost), Xabier Azparren (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Nicola Conci (XDS Astana) and Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).

Belgium’s Alec Segaert (Lotto) and the American Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL) both managed to join the party following the descent before the former tried his luck from distance, striking out with 20km remaining.

Segaert held a 40-second lead over the chasers going onto the Cat.1 Puerto de Belagua, with Castrillo soon in hot pursuit and Vine apparently in a bit of trouble.

But it was all bluff from Vine, who soon roared into action – catching lone leader Castrillo before soloing clear of the Spaniard with five kilometres remaining to secure the fourth Vuelta stage win of his career.

"Winning is so, so hard and it’s such an incredible feeling when it happens. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it because it’s just unbelievably hard," the 29-year-old Vine said while warming down on the rollers.

Vine then opened up about how hard it was simply to put himself in with a shout at contesting the victory on a day where the fast pace made it extremely difficult for any move to stick.

"I think I made my move for two and a half hours at the beginning of the race just trying to follow the moves. At the two-hour mark I was on the radio and saying, ‘Look guys, it’s just not happening, perhaps we should save ourselves for tomorrow?’

"Then there was a crash and I got stuck behind that. Then we kept jumping for another 45 minutes. So, Mikkel [Bjerg] helped me bridge across – and I thought that was the hardest part of the race, until I got to the final climb and that quickly turned into the hardest part of the race."

On his tactical decision to keep his powder dry on the decisive climb, Vine admitted to trying out some mind games with his opponents.

"I didn’t want to drag everyone up the final climb, so I started playing a bit of possum at the start of the bottom," he said. "I was then able to attack my way across to the other riders. Then I got rid of Archie [Ryan] and then dropped Pablo [Castrillo] before gritting my teeth to the end."

Vine’s second – and his team’s fourth – stage win at this Vuelta was a welcome tonic following Spaniard Ayuso’s controversial comments at the start of the stage.

Ayuso says UAE 'like a dictatorship' as he speaks out on shock exit

Video credit: TNT Sports

Ayuso stuck the knife into his team, claiming UAE were "run like a dictatorship" and that the management had done their best to discredit him and tarnish his reputation by announcing the annulment of his contract – which runs until 2028 – during the Vuelta, as opposed to waiting until after the race, which was when he claimed it had been originally decided to make the decision public.

The 22-year-old Spaniard, who won Stage 7 last week after seeing his GC hopes dashed one day earlier, at least put in a timely reminder of his ability on Tuesday – pulling hard for team-mate Almeida on the final climb before handing the reins over to Bjerg.

Almeida went on to put in numerous attacks on the Puerto de Belagua, and although his accelerations proved too much for Traeen and the likes of Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), the Portuguese climber was unable to distance his big rival, Vingegaard.

"It was a strange day thanks to the circumstances but I’m happy that the team and Jay – who’s a friend of mine – could win another stage," Ayuso said after the stage.

"My legs were good today and it was nice to be able to pull. I rode until Mikkel took over after he came back from the break.

"It’s a difficult situation and it’s been going on for months now. But I’m happy that it’s all out in the open now, and next year I’m going to enjoy my racing much better. I couldn’t celebrate Tadej [Pogacar]'s win in Paris because I went home early, so it would be nice to celebrate the overall win in Madrid [with Almeida]."

To win in Madrid, Almeida will need Ayuso’s help on Friday’s key stage to the Alto de l’Angliru. Before then, successive days in the medium mountains begin with Stage 11, a tough Classics-style 157.4km test which starts and finishes in the city of Bilbao.

While just 38 seconds separate Vingegaard and third-place Almeida, former Ineos rider Pidcock put in another solid display on the final climb and lurks within one minute of the race summit – making him, according to the two-time Tour winner Vingegaard, one of his big rivals for the red jersey.

Vingegaard 'sees Pidcock as GC rival'

Video credit: TNT Sports

STAGE 10 RESULT – TOP 10

1. Jay Vine (UAE)
2. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) +0:35
3. Javier Romo (Movistar) +1:04
4. Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) +1:05
5. Tom Pidcock (Ineos "
6. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) "
7. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) "
8. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma) "
9. Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step) "
10. Joao Almeida (UAE) "

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION - TOP 10

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma)
2. Torstein Traeen (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:26
3. Joao Almeida (UAE) +0:38
4. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +0:58
5. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2:03
6. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +2:05
7. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma) +2:12
8. Jai Hindley (Red Bull) +2:16
9. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull) "
10. Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) +2:43

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