Jay Vine had taken
Alpecin-Deceuninck's
Vuelta a Espana to a level similar to that of the former two Grand Tours, but his race ended abruptly and in a cruel way as he crashed out of the race in an early crash on the 18th stage.
Vine was only one of the many who hit the deck early on in the day, including Carlos Rodríguez and Mads Pedersen who went on to finish the day, and Quentin Pacher who was also forced to abandon. Vine suffered an open fracture on the wrist which has required 15 stitches and he was forced to abandon the race, visibly in tears as he was receiving first treatments on the road.
Vine had showed glimpses of climbing prowess over the last few years but has successfully translated those into world-class results at this Vuelta. He beat the GC field on the first summit finish to Pico Jano, won the following summit finish from the breakaway at Colláu Fancuaya and also finished fourth at Sierra Nevada - the toughest and highest climb of the race. This has earned him the lead of the KOM classification, which he was likely to be able to keep until Madrid.
"Thanks for all the messages. I'll be heading back home tomorrow, thanks to the team for sorting me out so quickly, sorry for not bringing the Po[l]kadots home. Gutted is an understatement," his message concluded.
After yesterday's crash, his partner Bre Vine had released a statement in which she confirmed Jay had talked to her whilst on the way to the hospital. She has finished it with positivity towards the future: "It's a sad time, there's no doubt about that, and there's obviously been lots of tears from team Vine, but he'll be back and with a fire in his belly. The Vine Show isn't done yet."
