The Spaniard arrives in Fancuaya with the leader and with Roglic and takes second overall, with Carlos Rodríguez fourth and Juan Ayuso fifth
Mist suits Jay Vine. Under that veil he had won in the Cantabrian Jano Peak and repeated in the Asturian Collado Fancuaya. Don’t look at the landscape. It is waiting for the potentiometer. In your bubble. That’s how he became a cyclist: looking at a computer screen on a roller. For example, he won a virtual race with a professional contract with his current team, Alpecin, as the prize. “Without that win I wouldn’t be a cyclist today,” he confesses. And without his courage. He is Australian and was a good mountain biker. I wanted more. He sold everything, collected the money and flew to Europe. On adventure. He had never left his house. On the Old Continent, he was gripped by the pandemic. No racing. To do? Find life. He became an indoor, roller and computer cyclist. No matter what. He is 26 years old and has already completed two stages in this Vuelta.
No one in the break, neither Soler nor Landa, could follow him. Vine, as he knows, ran up the last hill. Like he was alone. For your screen. He set his pace, pedaled deftly, even on 19% inclines, and looked back only once. To prove his happy solitude. Soler had Vine in his shot, but he melted in the last mile. He came in at 42 seconds, with Taaramae and Pinot. Behind it, Evenepoel, with a metal sweat skin, wanted to strengthen his lead. It doesn’t run either. Pull and pull. Only Enric Mas and Roglic tolerate him. But, daringly, he wanted to pass him on the last slope. A gesture. Evenepoel did not allow it. He is proud. The Belgian leads the Balearic Islands by 28 seconds in the general classification. The third is Roglic, a minute away. The Slovenian is lurking. Confidence to move on.
A few meters away, just 13 seconds away, came Simon Yates and the young Carlos Rodríguez, the best of Ineos, the team that sees Carapaz getting smaller every day. Rodríguez, at 21, is his trump card. And 50 seconds later, Almeida, Hindley and Ayuso, the 19-year-old pearl appeared. Mas second in the general classification is joined by Carlos Rodríguez’s fourth, 1.47, and Ayuso’s fifth, 2.02. The relay is already there. Two days of fog have made it clear.
It was one of those stages that force you to look ahead. The Colladona mountain is one of the walls that surround Pola de Laviana, the start of this eighth stage. Mining land, of coal, of hardened people, who suffered dry, without crying. Without complaining. The tour is what it is. And it started violently in the Colladona. A startup like this picks the best. Valverde and Carapaz moved in and punished Quick Step, Evenepoel’s team. Next, Jay Vine, the winner of Pico Jano, and Marc Soler, the winner of Bilbao, crowned the pass. En route to the second of the six slopes, Mozqueta, they were joined by Lutsenko, Taaramae, Hamilton, Landa and three from Groupama, Armirail, Reichenbach and Pinot, the Frenchman who learned to live with his fear of descents.
In Miguel Delibes’ story “The Departure”, one of the sailors asks why a person who can swim floats without moving and if he cannot swim, sinks. This is how they respond: “Fear is heavy.” Pinot, like Evenepoel and Enric Mas, has sometimes carried that ballast with him. The trio seems liberated in this Vuelta. With Pinot, another unleashed cyclist, Landa, was on the run. From the start of this Vuelta a load has fallen from the sky. He made it clear that he will not be fighting for the podium, his usual fight. That I went looking for podiums. Like this first one in Asturias. The man from Alava was the best of the escapees in the general classification, 6.33 behind Evenepoel. The Belgian leading team allowed them to take four minutes. Not anymore. A rival like Landa, twice third in the Giro and twice fourth in the Tour, should no longer be allowed to come alive.
It was a day in the mine. From scratching, even with the nails to extract the mineral. Landa loved the stage. He had warned the day before that he would go get her. He has a word. He does better when he walks without a muzzle, when the race allows him to kick like the idols that inspire him, Pantani, Iban Mayo… Pirates. Black flag. On-board. The break defended four minutes on the climbs to Santo Emiliano, Tenebreo and Perlavía. With that income, they ran into the final incline, the new demanding Collado Fancuaya. Vegetable. Transparent sky. Ten kilometers on an average gradient of 8.5%. A real port. Many should turn on the automatic breathing apparatus.
Landa confirmed there that he is still far from his best level. He sniffed and lifted his foot. Another day will be. Neither Pinot was found. The bells of the drowned floated on the tops of the forest. The fog took over everything. He put a roof on the mountain. And that’s how Jay Vine, a cyclist used to riding between four walls, works best indoors. One attack was enough, deep, for the watts his computer dictated. He climbed up blindly and when he finally looked up he already had his second stage in this Vuelta. There is nothing left in Australia. He sold it all. In Europe, he begins to collect victories in this edition of the round in which Evenepoel is in command. The Belgian adapted to the walls of Fancuaya. Another step in your learning process. But Mas and Roglic were his shadows. They will try to make him learn from defeat.
Source: La Verdad
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