"I turned into Richie Porte" - Jay Vine motivated and praised as UAE set João Almeida for maiden Giro d'Italia win

Jay Vine has been having a roller-coaster Giro d'Italia, on stage 16 he moved to another role, that of a domestique, and he played an important role in the victory of João Almeida which puts UAE Team Emirates closer to an important triumph.

“You were all waiting for the general classification riders to move up the mountain, so the team decided to spice things up for you. We had a plan and I'm delighted we were able to pull it off so that João [Almeida] took time and won the stage," Vine said in a post shared on social media. "We all worked very hard collectively to achieve success today.

UAE stayed in the wheels as Jumbo-Visma set the day up for big differences, but in the second half of the climb to Monte Bondone they took things up, both Davide Formolo and Jay Vine set a strong pace for a few kilometers that anticipated the attacks of João Almeida - who would go on to win the day. The Australian had his own GC ambitions at first, and in the second week struggled even on the climbs. He now enters the third week feeling much better and may now be on a bigger support role for the Portuguese after yesterday's collaboration.

"My job to empty the tank of the others and to place Joao in the best condition, I turned into Richie Porte and I gave everything," he even compares, with his compatriot having been a luxury domestique for Chris Froome for many years. "I'm really happy to start feeling like myself again and I'm just happy to be able to help the team in any way I can. We got the stage win with Joao, the fight for the pink jersey is congratulations man!”