It was a tough day out on the road for UAE Team Emirates-XRG on Saturday at the Santos Tour Down Under, with two riders out of the race and injured after crashes, including defending champion Jhonatan Narváez. However, the squad still remains in an enviable position on the overall standings with Jay Vine in the ochre leader’s jersey with an almost unheard of advantage of one minute and three seconds to his nearest rival.
That, unquestionably relieves the pressure on the four riders left to help Vine in his pursuit of a second title at his home WorldTour race, with UAE Team Emirates not skipping a beat even when faced with the tough scenario of losing the powerful card of Narváez – who had started the weather-shortened day of racing on stage 4 in second place – along with Vegard Stake Laengen. Even without these two, on the racing front, Vine’s lead never even looked close to being at risk.
Usually, that is easier said than done in a race that often comes down to the finest margins, with bonus seconds often the determining factor, but not after the masterclass delivered on stage 2 when Vine leapt away from the field on the Corkscrew climb, Narváez followed, and the two then proceeded to destroy their rivals’ hopes of winning the GC.
Only the third spot on the podium had looked in play, though right at the very beginning of the stage Narváez came down hard and, according to a team medical update, “sustained several stable thoracic vertebrae compression fractures, that will not require surgery at this stage”.
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