Vine missing in action when Almeida needed him most: "There’s nothing unsalvageable yet"

The polka-dot jersey wearer has already won two stages in this Vuelta, just like teammate Juan Ayuso. Marc Soler claimed victory on stage 14 and the Spaniard was in the breakaway all day again during stage 16 on Tuesday. But on Wednesday, all three of Almeida’s high-profile domestiques were struggling with tired legs and were dropped, even before the final climb had properly begun.

In the mixed zone, speaking as the leader of the mountains classification, Vine said: “It was quite challenging, different weather conditions, wet slippery roads, and a really tough finale. Mentally trying to prepare and getting ready to get in position and race the final climb like this, it was a really challenging stage.”

Looking at the numbers, Vine has already been in the breakaway four times this Vuelta (winning two), Ayuso twice (winning both), and Soler went on the attack in four of the last seven stages (including his win on stage 14). In the ongoing discussion about whether UAE is burning too much energy while trying to win the Vuelta with Almeida, stage 17 didn’t help their case.

Almeida commented on the lack of support: “In the end we were all quickly isolated. It didn’t change much.” Vine and Felix Großschartner were the last domestiques to be dropped under the pressure from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and Visma | Lease a Bike. “The selection was made as soon as we hit the challenging section of the race. It was good conditions for a hard race,” Vine explained.

So, what now? Although UAE has been saying for a while that they’re going all-in for Almeida, that hasn’t always been reflected on the road. After losing two seconds to Jonas Vingegaard, Vine remarked: “It’s never good to lose any time, I’d rather that the two seconds went the other way, but there’s nothing unsalvageable yet. We’ll look forward to tomorrow to do a really good strategy and establish a good strategy.”