Australian Jack Haig is currently fully focused on working for Bahrain Victorious teammate and GC contender Antonio Tiberi at the Vuelta a España. But that hasn't stopped the 30-year-old from appreciating the latest success story for his country in the Spanish Grand Tour, with compatriot Ben O'Connor seizing the red jersey in dramatic style on stage 6.
Given O'Connor's nearly five-minute advantage on GC over closest rival Primoz Roglič, Haig - Australia's most recent Vuelta podium finisher, claiming third in 2021- certainly rates O'Connor's chances of going all the way to Madrid in la roja. Or at the very least, Haig says, O'Connor could follow his career path and make the final top three.
For his part, Haig still has GC objectives, too. But as he told Cyclingnews at the stage 7 start, the main priority for the Australian in the Vuelta is working for teammate Antonio Tiberi, better placed overall and currently leading the Best Young Rider's classification.
"Everything's going well, I did the Tour de France and after that I had a little bit of time at home. It all passed quite quickly, doing San Sebastian then coming here," Haig said.
"But I'm feeling good, I'm enjoying racing in Spain. The Vuelta has always been nice to me, so I'm happy to be here. Then we have Antonio Tiberi, who seems to be going quite well. So we'll try for the white jersey with him and hopefully a good place on GC, too."
Tiberi is currently lying sixth overall, at 5:29, but the rider who is currently the talk of the Vuelta a España right now is race leader O'Connor, Haig's compatriot and near-neighbour in their European residences in Andorra, too.
"He's a really good rider, he's been fourth in the Tour and he's maybe having the best season of his career. He's just become a father as well, so perhaps that's a part of it, too," Haig explained when asked how he saw O'Connor as a racer.
"He finished fourth in the Giro d'Italia this year and has got many other good results, so maybe some teams might have underestimated him here. It may be quite hard to shift him from the red jersey and especially the podium."
As Haig explained, O'Connor's long-distance attack and ability to gain six minutes on the pack took a lot of people by surprise. But what enabled the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale racer to do even more damage on stage 6 was the lack of a reaction once he had gone clear.
"I think many guys in the peloton were surprised at how big the gap was at the finish because we weren't going easy in the group," Haig said.
"However, nobody took control to make a concerted effort to reduce the gap, some teams came through at certain moments but they never really made a big effort."
"So everybody was quite surprised when they crossed the line and saw the gap was six minutes. And now we'll have to wait and see how it plays out."
As for his options of trying for a top placing in the Vuelta GC like in 2021, Haig doesn't rule out his chances. But as he says "those goals in the background, and if it happens, it happens."
"The main aim is to help Antonio," Haig, currently 16th at 6:11, says. "He did a really good Giro, he's a big talent, the team has him on contract for a long time, and they want to try to develop him as much as possible. I'm happy to help work for him."
Apart from Bahrain Victorious' options, the million-dollar question for the Vuelta is how far O'Connor can go in the race lead, and as Haig observes wryly, "Primoz [Roglič] has a lot of work to make this time up so so hopefully it becomes more exciting for you guys [journalists]."
"I would also say, though, that Ben has a really good chance now to win the Vuelta. Like I said before he's not a rider with no previous results, or someone that hasn't already proven he can do three weeks quite strongly."
"So I think he's got a strong chance of taking the jersey [overall] and especially now, getting on the final podium."
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