Jay Vine to support João Almeida at Vuelta but mountain jersey may be priority - "I have to write down the possible mountain points"

Jay Vine won stage 6 of the Vuelta a Espana and got himself in the KOM jersey, which he won last year. The UAE Team Emirates - XRG had an important support role for João Almeida on the climb to Valdezcaray, however his ambitions are split as he will also be looking to win the classification over the next two weeks.

"...When the break finally went I knew the final climb was going to be a GC group, and I was going to help Almeida for as long as I could. The pace was on during the lead-in, and I got disconnected from the UAE train coming into the climb, so I had to work my way back into position," Vine said in an Instagram post after the end of stage 9. The Australian gave a detailed explanation of what happened on those few minutes of the climb where he was present to support the Portuguese, whilst Juan Ayuso and Marc Soler were not.

"I got myself up towards the front of the group just as we turned left, so I could help Joao. The pace was on, and everyone was going backwards, I was sitting third or fourth wheel when Jonas attacked with Ciccone in his wheel. I saw the attack going so I tried to snap close it, and I was about a second off before I realized Joao wasn’t there and he called me to stop so I could try and pace him back".

"I tried setting a hard pace, but one that Joao would be comfortable with, and I managed to bring it down to about a 12 second gap to Jonas, and split the group to about 6 riders, but with Vingegaard in full attack mode, I started only being able to hold the gap, and I knew João needed to go then and there. I set as hard of a tempo as I could, hoping to give him the best chance to limit the gap and go when he needed".  

UAE find themselves in a tricky position, with the announcement of Juan Ayuso's contract breaking coming during the rest day and according to the Spaniard, he was only told this minutes before the reveal. Whether Ayuso will remain in the race or fully commit to his teammate's GC aspirations are valid questions due to his clear discontent with the team management, and Vine may have his own role change because of it.

“We are regrouping and seeing what we can do in the last two weeks. I have to write down the possible mountain points and how they are distributed per stage," the Australian said during the rest day, holding the lead of an important jersey which he will not want to let go.

But managing both his and the team's GC ambitions will be a complicated situation. “There are still stages that earn 30 points if you take them all. It will be interesting to see how that develops over the next two weeks," he concluded.