"If I was a car, my dashboard would be lit up like a Christmas tree" - Jay Vine pushes through the pain to complete brutal Giro d'Italia time-trial

The 2023 Giro d'Italia will go down as something of a rollercoaster ride for UAE Team Emirates star, Jay Vine. Numerous crashes have been offset by some brilliant work in the mountains to help teammate Joao Almeida to a podium finish. Nevertheless, Vine is content to see the back of the race.

"At the start of the Giro, I bookmarked this stage as a potentially exciting one for me, but 3 weeks into what was been a very tough Grand Tour, I woke up this morning looking at the course, not with excitement but dread," the Australian revealed in a post to his official Facebook account. "After a long transfer and multiple tough stages trying to help Joao where I could, my body has been struggling. (Let’s be honest if I was a car, my dashboard would be lit up like a Christmas tree). I knew I was unlikely to be a contender for the day, but I was hoping the legs might hold on for another 18.5 kms."

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Nevertheless, an impressive performance up the Monte Lussari saw Vine finish in 10th on the stage. "To my surprise my legs came good for the first half of the TT, I nailed my lines and kept a good pace, it was only until they started buckling on the climb," he says. "I wasn’t hitting the numbers proscribed to me, but by that time I thought ‘Well I’ve gotten this far, I can’t stop now’."

"The crowds and seeing the Aussie flags, made today pretty special! I’m glad I pushed through, it was a complete struggle but I wanted to do the National Colours proud and dig deep one last time before the Giro comes to an end tomorrow," continues Vine who's attention will switch to helping Pascal Ackerman try to take victory in Rome. "Only one more stage, and it’s another opportunity for the fast boys! Let’s see what we can do."

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