Jay Vine

Australia's Jay Vine added stage eight of the Vuelta a España to stage six, while the Belgian Remco Evenepoel is 28sec ahead of Enric Mas overall.

“I’m really happy with how I felt today,” Evenepoel said. “But it was good to see Primoz being really strong today, it’s nice to see him like this. The Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider was 1min 20sec behind Vine but came in along with his main challengers in the overall classification – Enric Mas of Movistar and Jumbo-Visma’s three‑time defending champion, Primoz Roglic.

Australian rider continues to shine in the mountains of the Asturias region.

An avid cycling follower with a keen interest in racing, his writing previously featured on Casquettes and Bidons. With Evenepoel, Mas and Roglič proving they are the strongest three riders at the race it already looks like a tall order for an Ineos rider to make any indents at the 2022 edition of the Vuelta. The Belgian was able to set his own pace for the majority of the mountain that only Enric Mas (Movistar) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) could match. The iconic climb of the Angliru is the mountain that everyone talks about in Asturias and rightly so. Vine had been in the 10-man breakaway for the entire day and looked completely fearless as the lead group hit the 17% gradients of the final climb. The Australian rider proved his climbing talent once again as he swept up maximum mountain points on all of the climbs on the parcours.

Jay Vine of Alpecin–Deceuninck disappeared into the mist to claim another sensational win at La Vuelta on Stage 8.

Soler was able to tempo his way back into second place on the road and for a moment it looked as if the Spaniard might make it one place higher. I forced myself to get to the next hairpin, looked back and there was no-one, so I kept going." By the foot of the Puerto Collau Fancuaya, a climb never before seen in the Vuelta, the gap had fallen slightly, thanks mainly to an aggressive but abbreviated pull on the front of the peloton from Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl). Vine first followed then duly dropped the Russian, with Pinot and Taarame on his wheel before, one by one, his rivals fell away. Having already become the virtual King of the Mountains on the first climb, Vine doubled his total for the day on the second, the Cat. As the 10 continued to rotate, with no observable impetus in the peloton, it became increasingly likely that they would be able to stay away. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) was the first to attack after what had been a cagey start, with no one seemingly inclined to fire the first shot. Barely a minute later, up the road, the day’s real action was kicking off. Some 25km into the stage, with six riders in pursuit, the team of the red jersey, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, decided to calm things down. Once the break’s advantage hit four minutes, that was where it stayed for the entire midsection of the stage. Vine made his move from the breakaway with 6km remaining, decimating a group including aging stars Thibaut Pinot (Groupama–FDJ) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious). Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) threatened a brief comeback with 2km remaining but Vine kept his cool to double up.

Australian Jay Vine's cycling fairytale — from indoor racer to grand tour winner — has continued with another remarkable stage win in the Vuelta a España.

"It's incredible. Once again, just as on the ascent of Pico Jano on Thursday when he won his maiden professional race, Vine roared away from the field on the final climb of a demanding 153.4km stage from La Pola Llaviana to win by 43 seconds from Spain's Marc Soler. The Townsville novice, who's graduated from indoor racing to being one of the new stars of the professional peloton in just a couple of years, once again blew away some of the best climbers in the world to run away with the eighth stage on Saturday.