"My thoughts are with Landa" - Jay Vine recalls stage 1 crash and it's consequences

Jay Vine is a rider that all too often suffers from crashes and injuries at bad moments and this has happened once again on the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia. However, he was also left very marked by the injuries suffered by Mikel Landa - which resembled his - who went down in the same spot as the Australian.

"Not the way I imagined kicking off a Grand Tour…I spent most of the day conserving energy and staying out of trouble, but with 5km to go, the race lit up and things got hectic on the descent," Vine said in a post shared on Instagram. "Unfortunately, a few of us went down — I saw Landa crash in front of me and was getting around it when I was hit hard from behind".

Vine got hit by Corbin Strong in the very dangerous corner, and only moments later Geoffrey Bouchard would crash in the very same spot as well, leading to fractures and a withdrawal as well. Vine could understand Landa's difficulties however, having suffered fractured vertebrae last year after his crash at Itzulia Basque Country.

At the time being, the veteran is at the hospital and will require a lengthy recovery in a lying position. "My thoughts are with Landa — it’s devastating to see you out of the race. I know all too well, how tough fractured vertebrae can be. Wishing you a strong and speedy recovery, mate".

After a brilliant Tour de Romandie, the potential of using Vine as a GC outsider at the Giro is over as he's lost several minutes, but UAE Team Emirates - XRG are lucky to not lose one of their key riders already. "Honestly, I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to start today, but the knee’s feeling much better and I’ll be back on the start line," he explained.