As Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) charged toward the finish line of stage 18 of the Vuelta a España, the leading time of Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) looked seriously in peril but in the end, the Australian had to grapple with the disappointment of falling short by less than a second – 0.90th of a second to be precise.
It was a bitter blow for the 29-year-old, coming so close to taking his third individual stage win of this edition, even after a tumultuous run-in with the distance dropped from 27.2kms to 12.2kms late on the eve of the individual time trial. The change came amid concerns over securing the course, given the pro-Palestine protests that had already resulted in alterations to the race on stage 11 and 16.
