As Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) charged toward the finish line of stage 18 of the Vuelta a España, the leading time of Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) looked seriously in peril but in the end, the Australian had to grapple with the disappointment of falling short by less than a second – 0.90th of a second to be precise.
It was a bitter blow for the 29-year-old, coming so close to taking his third individual stage win of this edition, even after a tumultuous run-in with the distance dropped from 27.2kms to 12.2kms late on the eve of the individual time trial. The change came amid concerns over securing the course, given the pro-Palestine protests that had already resulted in alterations to the race on stage 11 and 16.
"The last 24 hours have been a real rollercoaster," said Vine on Instagram. "The plan was always for a long-time trial today, one where I could really get into rhythm. Then, at 9 pm last night, everything changed. The organisers cut it down to a much shorter circuit—no climb, no technical city section, just a flat-out effort from start to finish."
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"I went all-in, emptied the tank, and came up less than one second short of the win. Honestly, I’m absolutely gutted. To prepare for one thing, have it flipped overnight, and then miss by the smallest of margins—it stings badly. Chapeau to Ganna, he was a beast out on the road today."
Ganna, who was among the early starters, delivered a time of 13:00.89 before settling in for a long wait to see if his leading position would stand, joking afterwards that: “I think I suffered more in the last few hours in the hot seat". His time wasn't the best through the intermediate checks, and Vine would have put Ganna through some nervous moments with his early pace. Though a scorching run to the line from Ganna, finishing at 63 kph, kept the Italian rider on top.
Still, when Vine was asked if there was a point in the time trial where he could have taken that extra second back, it wasn't his performance through the last part, where his advantage turned to a deficit, that he was looking to, but instead it was focused on the very beginning.
"It was the first corner, that sweeping right/left - I completely screwed up the first corner. Everyone told me … and I still stuffed it up," Vine said in a social media post put out by TNT Sports.
Vine may be taking it as a lesson, but there is no time to dwell, as a close-run overall battle for his teammate João Almeida continues to unfold in Spain, particularly after Almeida tightened the gap to race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) to just 40 seconds on Thursday. Then, soon after that wraps up, there are world titles to chase.
"But that’s bike racing," said Vine after reflecting on the circumstances of the close-run second on stage 18. "And if anything, this just adds more fuel to the fire. Ten days until the World Championships, and I’ll take this frustration, this hunger, and turn it into motivation."
Vine will be lining up in Rwanda to represent Australia across the elite men's individual time trial on September 21, the mixed time trial on September 24, where the team are defending champions, and also in the elite men's road race on September 28.
