"If I'm not doing it with Tadej, it's doing it with Isaac or João" - Jay Vine wants to help UAE win a Grand Tour and to become an even better time trialist

Jay Vine is entering a new year with UAE Team Emirates - XRG and with baby number 2 on the way. The Australian has found his home with the Emirati team where he is allowed to chase his own individual results, but where he also wants to be part of Grand Tour-winning teams with the likes of Tadej Pogacar, Isaac del Toro or João Almeida.

After his breakthrough climbing performances in 2022, mainly where he won two mountain stages at the Vuelta a España (even beating Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic and Enric Mas directly in one), he was one of the many strong signings from the Emirati team. With three seasons under his belt however, he has achieved a lot including a Tour Down Under, two more Vuelta a España wins this year whilst winning the KOM jersey in 2024 and 2024; and several others big results such as this year's silver medal at the time trial World Championships. Vine has found his position in the peloton.

An 11th place at the Tour Down Under last year was a disappointment however, and he is now looking to correct that. "I just went into Australia a bit underdone, so I'm trying to fix that this year," he told Cyclingnews. "I still went in really well, but the sport's moved on in two years since I last went to Australia, so you've now got to be on a very good level to do well there. Especially racing against the Jayco team and especially at Nationals."

He will then follow that up with the UAE Tour, which in 2024 he led into the final day, before cracking spectacularly. But his schedule isn't as fixed as some of the team leaders': "I've no idea what the team wants. I wasn't told whether I could go with the polka dot jersey last year either in the Vuelta and I wasn't even told I was doing the Vuelta until 2 days before San Sebastian."

However, as he confirmed to CyclingUpToDate back at the team's media day in mid-December, he will race the Giro d'Italia. "I'd like to finish the Giro this year, that's for sure. Obviously there's a 40 km time trial, so that's on my bucket list. It's dead flat but a bit technical at both ends, so I'm looking forward to that".

This year he started both Giro d'Italia (although he didn't finish it) and Vuelta a España, where he helped Isaac del Toro and João Almeida to second places respectively. However, that win still didn't come for a Grand Tour lineup where he was present.

"I'd still like to win a Grand Tour with the team. To be able to be beside a leader who's standing on the podium with whatever trophy it is, that is still part of my career goals," he admits. "And if I'm not doing it with Tadej [Pogacar], it's doing it with Isaac [Del Toro] or João [Almeida] or something like this is. It's one of my career goals."

However his focus has steered away from the climbs to the time trial bike. Vine is still a top climber, having won two mountain stages at the Vuelta, taking two solo wins at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali; and finishing on the podium of the Tour de Romandie and Top10 of Il Lombardia despite not being a leader there.

But it is against the clock that he looks to stand out, and where he has shifted his focus. A world title could perhaps be in his future too? "If you're trying to win, that's pretty much almost impossible, if it's a super hard time trial Evenepoel is the best in the world. And then if it's a dead flat time trial, Evenepoel is best in the world, closely followed by Ganna and Tarling."

He is a top rider, but has not won one this year, despite finishing second four times this year: National championships (to Luke Plapp); Vuelta a España (to Filippo Ganna); World Championships (to Remco Evenepoel) and Chrono des Nations (to Joshua Tarling).

The defeat at the Vuelta, by less than a second, was the one that hurt the most: "I lost to Ganna by one second in the Vuelta. We don't know if it had been the original course, if I could have won that, and a time trial in the final week of a Grand Tour is a completely different beast to an individual one day even, as well. So it's still possible to get results there too."

"Time trialling is important to me, and I mean, I think I can do both. I'm never going to be a super climber, so I'm happy where I am with climbing. Rather, it's all about improving the time trialing," he concluded.