Jay Vine: Rumours of Tour de France debut are ‘a bit of a fantasy’

Jay Vine’s self-assessment was bracing and, in the circumstances, excessively harsh. In a social media post after stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve, the Australian reckoned his performance on the race’s first summit finish to have been ‘pathetic,’ but the Alpecin-Fenix rider's account of his afternoon in the Serra de Monchique made no concession to the context.

In truth, Vine shouldn’t have been in Portugal at all this week. After a fine outing at Étoile de Bessèges, where he placed second at Le Mont Bouquet and 8th in the final time trial, he travelled to Turkey for the Tour of Antalya. A bout of gastroenteritis limited him to riding just 20km of the opening stage.

“Two hours before the first stage in Turkey, all hell broke loose basically and it was just a case of trying to see if we could get through the day,” Vine told Cyclingnews at the start in Albufeira on Thursday. “The goal was to try to get through the race, but I was getting dropped 10k in, so there was no chance.”

Vine spent the remainder of his time in Turkey confined to his hotel room, unable even to train. Ordinarily, he might have taken another week or so to ease himself back into action, but next month’s Paris-Nice is one of the primary objectives of his early season and he was loath to go there without more competition in his legs. When his Alpecin-Fenix squad was left a man short for the Volta ao Algarve, Vine found himself on a flight to Faro.

“I’ve got Paris-Nice on my schedule, and we still wanted to get some racing kilometres as preparation and this is a really high level race,” Vine said. “And for the whole peloton, COVID has been taking riders out of start lists. We had a rider that pulled out, so it was logical to put me in here, with no expectations because of my problems, but we’ll see how it goes.”

Vine was Alpecin-Fenix’s protected rider on the road to Alto da Fóia on Thursday, but when he was distanced from the peloton on the penultimate ascent, he sat up to spare himself for the rigours still to come, coming home 16 minutes down on winner David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ). That outcome was not entirely surprising given Vine’s ordeal in Turkey, and he will have another chance to test himself at Alto do Malhão on Sunday.

“It obviously takes a lot out of you going with no riding for five or six days, so we’ll see how it goes,” Vine had said before the start. “But I think the Sunday finish is much more suited to me to be honest. It’s much steeper, with more room to attack.”

Vuelta return

Whatever the result on the Malhão, Vine’s time in the Algarve should stand him in good stead for the coming weeks of his second professional season. His novel entry to this level by way of a Zwift competition made headlines early in 2021, but his performances across the year suggested that his talent would surely have found a way to the Big Show by a more traditional route, had the coronavirus lockdown not intervened.

“It’s sort of like a side thing now, but it’s a nice story and without it, I wouldn’t be here,” Vine said of his electronic path to Alpecin-Fenix. In any case, he quickly proved himself in person with strong showings at the Tour of Turkey and Vuelta a Burgos, and some notable cameos at the Vuelta a España.

Once the lingering fatigue of that debut Grand Tour receded at the end of the season, Vine noticed its residual benefits when he began preparing for the new campaign. “I felt really good. I was sort of burnt out a little bit before Lombardia and I think we can manage that a lot better this year, by learning how the body reacts to big blocks of riding,” said Vine, who remained in Europe this winter to sink the foundations of his 2022 season. The cost of quarantining in Australia and the practicalities of arranging residence in Andorra contributed to the decision.

After racing sparingly early in 2021, when his Alpecin-Fenix debut was delayed until Tour of Turkey in April, Vine has a busier spring this time around. Following Paris-Nice, he will have at least some hilly Classics on his agenda. “Nothing’s fully confirmed just yet, but I’m going to be doing a couple of one-day races just to start learning: although obviously not the flat ones,” he said.

Vine’s calendar will also include another Grand Tour. A return to the Vuelta is the most likely scenario, with the 26-year-old playing down the idea that he might force his way into a Tour de France squad that is likely to be built around Mathieu van der Poel and Tim Merlier.

“There’s rumours going around that I’m doing the Tour. I’d suggest that’s a bit of a fantasy, I think,” Vine laughed. “I don’t think I’m doing the Tour. I think there are much more high-profile riders on this team to do the Tour rather than me.”

Still, in the here and now – and despite the disappointment on the Volta ao Algarve’s opening summit finishes – there are plenty of opportunities for Vine to show himself, starting with the Malhão on Sunday.