'Today was an absolute whirlwind' - Vine doubles up at the Vuelta

"Today was an absolute whirlwind. I didn't think it was going to happen," Vine said after his triumph. "The team was wanting me to try for the break, and even after the first two hours, I was a bit kaput and concerned about saving energy for tomorrow."

Vine initially doubted his chances and attempted to conserve energy for the following day's technical stage. His team, however, remained persistent in pushing him to join the breakaway.

"I tried a couple of times and was solo for about five kilometers in one of the valleys," Vine explained. "I thought tomorrow is a really technical stage for the GC and maybe I needed to conserve energy to help Joao [Almeida]."

The decisive moment came when teammate Mikkel [Bjerg] delivered what Vine described as 'a crazy pull' to help him bridge across to the breakaway group. This teamwork proved crucial in establishing the move that would ultimately lead to victory.

"Everyone believed in me. It's an incredible feeling to finish it off. This is totally for them. I could not have done it without them," Vine said.

The stage presented extreme physical and mental challenges for the Australian. By the time he made it into the successful move, he had already depleted his resources.

"When I got to the move, I realised I didn't even have a bottle on the bike. I'd gone through all my gels and burned so many carbs," Vine revealed. "It was incredibly hard to start that race, and then I had to think about how I was going to win."

This victory follows Vine's earlier success in home of Andorra, making it two stage wins to double up at this year's Vuelta whilst also obtaining a strong choke hold on the polka-dot jersey. Despite his achievements so far, he acknowledged there's still "a long week to go" in the three-week Grand Tour, as Vine full well knows after a cruel crash denied him from winning the polka-dot jersey in the 2022 Vuelta.

The win was UAE's fourth of this Vuelta, and it came on a day of drama for the team in the wake of the announcement of Juan Ayuso's departure at season's end.