Jay Vine produces another excellent display to win stage 10 at the Vuelta a España

With yet another outstanding performance at the Vuelta a España, Jay Vine won stage 10 from the breakaway. The Australian used his devastating form to drop all of his rivals and claim his second win of the race, and in doing so, he extends his lead in the King of the Mountains jersey.

Coming immediately after the rest day, Vine’s latest victory takes UAE Team Emirates-XRG to four stage wins from this year’s Vuelta a España, with 11 days of racing yet to go. The Emirati squad now sits on 77 wins for the 2025 campaign, as Vine and his teammates go in search of history in the team’s ninth season.

Vine’s latest success came at the expense of Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), who proved the second-best rider from the breakaway on the day. Linking up with the Spaniard with 5.6km to go on Tuesday’s summit finish, Vine immediately looked to pile on the pressure, and some 400m later, the elastic snapped. Castrillo was jettisoned, and the Australian rode alone to the day’s honours at El Ferial Larra Belagua.

Meanwhile, in the GC group behind, Mikkel Bjerg and Juan Ayuso teamed up to give João Almeida a blistering lead-out for an ambitious attack. On more than one occasion on the final climb, the Portuguese climber laid down the gauntlet, and by the finish line, not all of his rivals were able to muster a response.

Almeida finished stage 10 having gained time on the likes of Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), and sitting just 38 seconds back on the new race leader, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Speaking to reporters after the finish, Vine could scarcely believe that he had repeated his 2022 feat of taking two stage wins at the same Vuelta a España.

Vine: “Winning is so so hard, and it’s such an incredible feeling when it happens. No, I don’t think I will ever get used to winning, because it is just unbelievably hard.

“I think I made my move with two and a half hours at the start of the race, just trying to follow the big groups. The guys helped me where they could to get me into position, and then I think at the two-hour mark, I called on the radio, ‘guys, it’s not happening.’

“Then there was a crash, I got stuck behind that, and then we kept jumping for another 45 minutes, so Mikkel [Bjerg] helped me bridge across. I thought that was the hardest part of the race, until I got to the final climb, and then that quickly turned into the hardest part of the race.

“I didn’t want to drag everybody up the climb, so I tried playing a bit of possum at the bottom. I was able to sort of attack my way across to the other riders, and then I got rid of Archie [Ryan], and then got to Pablo [Castrillo] and was able to drop him through the last S-bend.

“Then it was just to grit my teeth until the end!”

“Everyone believed in me, and it’s just an incredible feeling to be able to finish it off. This is totally for them, I could not have done it without them, and I’m so glad that I was able to pull it off for them.”

As noted by Vine, the first two hours of racing on stage 10 were at full tilt. With just two climbs on the agenda and tougher tests to come later in the week, there was a wide understanding that the day’s honours would be contested amongst the breakaway. In turn, the fight to make that break was relentless.

After two hours, the average racing speed was well above 50kph, and still, no breakaway had made their attack stick. At this point, it was getting to the now-or-never stage for a group of riders to go clear.

Stepping up to the task, Mikkel Bjerg launched his teammate Vine up the road and ensured that both riders would be represented at the head of the race. With a little under 70km to go, the definitive breakaway went clear and numbered some 30 riders. This meant the battle for the win was about to begin in earnest.

On the first and penultimate climb, the Alto de las Coronas (7.5km at 4.7%), Vine went clear with a number of riders and extended his lead in the King of the Mountains jersey at the summit. There was a regrouping on the descent and heading towards the foot of the final climb, Vine was with nine other riders at the front of the race.

Alec Segaert of Lotto went on the attack from the base of the last climb, but Vine timed his move to perfection. One by one, he dropped his companions and with 5.2km to go, Pablo Castrillo was the last rival to be dispatched. From here on out, Vine’s victory was all but assured.

A minute or so behind Jay Vine’s stage-winning efforts, it was once more his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate João Almeida who animated proceedings in the peloton. Feeling good to go on the attack, the Portuguese climber put his battle plans into place at the bottom of the climb.

Led into the climb by Felix Großschartner, Almeida soon instructed Juan Ayuso to the front and the Spaniard duly delivered. With 8km to go, Ayuso surged to the front and delivered a blistering turn of pace for around 400m, shredding the peloton of many of its inhabitants.

Next up, Mikkel Bjerg, having dropped back from helping Vine in the breakaway, was handed the reins by Ayuso, and the Dane continued the 22-year-old’s strong work. For the next 500m, Bjerg dropped the hammer and teed up Almeida’s eventual attack with 7km to ride.

Although multiple accelerations from the Portuguese were unable to drop the pre-race favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Almeida was able to distance the likes of Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers).

Reflecting on the day after the finish, the man sitting in third place overall was content with the ambition he and his teammates had shown in the finale.

Almeida: “It was good. I was feeling good again today, we have nothing to lose; we are here to try to win. We can either try not to lose or we can try to win, so we need to try, and tomorrow is another day.

“I said to the guys that if I feel good we would try on the final climb, and we gave everything we have, so it is what it is. I was trying to make the race hard but it was also not super steep to make a difference, so I just took the wheel and looked to arrive to the finish line.

“It was not worth [asking Vine to return to the peloton to help] today.”

Vuelta a España stage 10 results

1. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3:56:24

2. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) +35″

3. Javier Romo (Movistar) +1:04

10. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1:05

Vuelta a España general classification after stage 9

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 37:33:52

2. Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) +26″

3. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +38″