Last October, when Jay Vine was still, officially at least, an Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, the idea of targeting the general classification at a Grand Tour seemed fanciful. Two stage wins at the Vuelta a España had illustrated his gifts in the mountains, but he insisted that three-week racing was about rather more than raw climbing talent.
"I think Grand Tours are a bit out of the question, we just don't have the team to be able to do stuff in the mountains," Vine said then, suggesting one-off exploits would remain the summit of his ambition in three-week races in 2023.
