Jay Vine had special motivation to go full for Wout van Aert's polka dot jersey in Vuelta a España

After two weeks of Vuelta a España, two riders are at the top of the mountain classification: Wout van Aert on behalf of Visma | Lease a Bike and Jay Vine of UAE-Team Emirates. The latter went on an adventure in Sunday's challenging mountain stage to collect as many mountain points as possible, which he clarified the next day.

Why did the Emirates team's Aussie suddenly set his sights on the mountain points? "It was Father's Day in Australia, and my son was born the day before I traveled to the Vuelta, so it was a very special day for me. A day I wanted to make a difference, with a stage win or by taking as many points for the mountain jersey as possible."

"If we look back ten years from now and I can explain to my son that I wasn't there because of this reason, I think that will be special," Vine, who ended up like Van Aert on 46 points, and thus fell just short of taking the polka dot jersey, said on his social media.

There was no question of his commitment. "We wanted to race aggressively and went for it. I am happy that I am starting to feel more and more myself and can help the guys. When I began this Vuelta, I wondered if I could help them. So now that I was riding up front and trying to turn the GC around with Pavel Sivakov in a super-heavy Vuelta a España, it was already like a win for me." Vine was one of the victims of the heavy crash at the Tour of the Basque Country and did not make his return until just before the Vuelta a España.

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Van Aert didn't have his climber's legs with him on Sunday

So Van Aert kept just enough to keep his mountain jersey. "It's nice that I still have the jersey, but I didn't feel like a climber. I'm surprised I'm still in the lead because I assumed Vine would grab all the points."

"It's a nice feeling that I still have two jerseys after the second rest day," followed the Belgian of Visma | Lease a Bike continued. "We're going to see what's still possible. I didn't have the legs I wanted in this mountain stage, so I had to decide quickly to take it easy and eventually finish in a nice group. In a ride like this, though, it's never easy."

Behind Vine and Van Aert, two-time stage winner Pablo Castrillo is also getting closer. He is now on 37 points. There is no sign of the GC for now, as the breakaway riders have often lost out on stage wins and mountain points.

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