Virtual reality: Former Canberra esports champ Jay Vine scores Vuelta a Espana cycling tour win

Canberra star Vine earned a sensational maiden win at the Vuelta a Espana, riding away from some of the world's best on the sixth stage to take his very first victory as a professional.

The only problem is there's no evidence of his landmark win, with conditions so bad at the finish line that there were no television shots of him crossing the line.

Apparently he had a big smile, even though you couldn't see it, in what he has described as an unreal moment.

"With 70k to go, I missed the break [and] I had a flat tyre in the first five kilometres," Vine said, when finally in view of the cameras after his victory.

"And even though it was still the team's plan for me to go on the final climb if the race came back together, it's still unreal for me to be able to do that from the GC group - it's incredible.

"I've been working towards this all year after coming so close last year [in a couple of other stages of the 2021 Vuelta] and it's a dream come true."

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In wretched conditions, with practically no visibility and as the rain drove down on a brutal final ascent to San Miguel de Aguayo on Thursday, the 26-year-old from Canberra battled home to earn his most unlikely win win by 15 seconds.

The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider's late attack proved decisive as he caught Ukraine's Mark Padun within 6.5km of the first category summit finish to go and then roared through the mist to claim victory.

Vine, who said he was thinking of the sacrifices and efforts of his wife as he battled through the last kilometre, has enjoyed a remarkable couple of years since he won the 2020 Zwift Academy program that earned him a pro contract with his Belgian team.

Belgium's brilliant young star Remco Evenepoel gave chase to come home second, while seizing the overall leader's red jersey.

Meanwhile, race favourite and defending champion Primoz Roglic had a bad day, losing time on the final ascent.

The 22-year-old Evenepoel now leads the standings by 21 seconds from Frenchman Rudy Molard, whose hopes of keeping in the red jersey were hampered by a mechanical.

Roglic struggled on the latter stages, finishing in a group of fellow GC contenders, which also featured Australians Jai Hindley and Ben O'Connor, one minute and 37 seconds back.

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