"We’ve probably still got to race the same way" - Jay Vine on the defensive as he goes into final Tour Down Under stage with a badly damaged UAE

Up until stage 3, UAE Team Emirates - XRG dominated the Tour Down Under and was virtually in a perfect position. After stage 4, Jay Vine remains in the lead, but the team has several men out of the race or in a bad position due to the crashes that have been affecting it. Into the final stage, the hilly circuit in Stirling, this could prove to be an issue for Vine who will carry the ochre jersey with him.

It was a bad day for UAE who saw Jhonatan Narváez and Vegard Stake Laengen abandon the race, following two separate crashes. Despite Down Under being a very calm race and usually on wide and safe roads, there have been many crashes, further showcasing the risks that are being taken in the peloton currently. These have left Vine down to a few teammates.

“It’s such a team sport, and on a day like today, even more than on a hilly stage, teammates really count. It’s really unfortunate that we lost two guys," Vine said in a post-race interview. "Johnny, we’re still waiting to hear more about him. Vegard is recovering and should be okay, but once you’re that far back after a crash, it doesn’t make sense to continue.”

Narvéz sustained compressed fractures in some vertebras whilst Laengen sustained a rib injury. Furthermore, after the crash in the previous day, Adam Yates also lost time today which comes as a bad sign for the team. Ivo Oliveira, Mikkel Bjerg and the sprinter Juan Sebastián Molano are the other three men in the lineup, neither has shown particularly good form this week.

This could be an issue in Stirling as UAE now don't have two cards to play in the GC, Vine is not an explosive rider used to this type of racing with the classics specialists, and UAE don't have the team to control the race if it explodes - which could happen in this sort of terrain. With no Willunga Hill on the route and plenty riders looking to justify their trip to Australia, we could have dozens of men trying their luck on the final day.

"We’ve probably still got to race the same way. But we have to be clever. I’ve got a bigger gap now, so I can afford to let the right move go and maybe let other teams chase for their GC," Vine says. With Matthew Brennan also lacking the legs, Visma may also not be an ally to chase the breakaway throughout the day.

“The finish really suits someone like Brennan. It suited Johnny as well, but now he’s gone. Hopefully Visma will want to control things a bit, and there are other teams who still want something from this race," he concluded.