Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) moved up to the top of the mountains classification on stage 16 of the Vuelta a España after a heavy crash on the descent of the 1 Colada Lomena forced him to retire.

Wein's climb up the mountain standings was paralleled by compatriot Caden Groves' (Alpecin-Desseuninck) move to the top of the points classification.

This curious situation occurred after Van Aert crashed on the descent of the Colada Lomena, causing Vine and teammates Marc Soler and Isaac Del Toro to fall.

As the Australian pointed out, for him the main purpose of the move was not to fight for the jersey, but rather to ensure that the Catalan and Mexican riders were in the best position to challenge for the stage win.

At the end of the day, Wein was more than happy that Sorel had secured the stage win with a very prestigious summit finish in Covadonga, and without downplaying the importance of taking the mountains jersey, he candidly described it as a “bonus.”

The crash itself, which would indirectly put him in the mountains jersey on Wednesday, was “weird,” Wein told reporters, although Wein had already done so because Van Aert was wearing the points leader's green.

“I went down really slow on the first descent because of the risk of crashing in wet conditions. But there was a wet patch on the left-hand bend and the first three guys hit the deck.”

“I hope he's okay. It's a shame because he was kicking my ass in the sprint at the top of these climbs. There wasn't much I could do without coming up completely empty and I could have missed out on a stage win today. For the team, that was the goal and the mountains jersey is a bonus.”

While Byrne regained the class lead in the 2022 Vuelta, which he held until his crash in the third week, the main focus of the UAE's celebrations on Tuesday was undoubtedly Soler's stunning stage win at Lagos de Covadonga.

“I am really excited about what he did. I wasn't in every breakaway group he was in, but he was in every breakaway group I was in for this race.

“After the first first race I told him I wasn't feeling good. And it was best to put my eggs in the other two guys' baskets. So I set a reasonably hard pace at the base of the climb and then tried to keep up with them.” [But I knew Mark would pace himself, and when the road flattened out and no one was trying to get into the flat section, Mark just went for it. It was amazing."

Weine's strategy of sacrificing himself for the others worked perfectly and the UAE had a numerical advantage in the 12-man break of the day, but Weine said it was not straightforward to secure victory.

However, a six-minute advantage from the main pack on the final climb ensured that victory would come from the front group.

“Max Poole (DSM-Filmenig-Post NL) was one of the favorites to win today, as was (Matthew) Lichtero (Israel-Premier Tech). Both had teammates, so after the second Cat.1, we had a bit of a fun run. [But in the end, I think we decided to run the last 12 or 15 km to the foot of the final climb and see who had the legs. And Marc proved to be the 'Hors Classe'.”

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