A brilliant effort by Jack Haig in the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol sees him collect fourth place in both Stage Two and the general classification as we move into Lucena on day three.

The 150km journey from Archidona to the city of Alcalá la Real was an exciting one with lots of twists and turns towards the tail end of the race. In the early stages, a small group created a breakaway around the four minute mark – something which the peloton behind were comfortable with. So much so, it continued well after the five categorised climbs and sprints until the riders approached Alto de Las Grajeras.

From there, a large bunch of riders including many of Bahrain Victorious continued to attack and eventually their patience told as they caught up with the leaders on the Puerto del Castillo section. As the pace quickened and the riders descended to the foot of the final climb, Wout Poels was determined to attack on the uphill but frustratingly he was kept in check with the other co-leaders and heeded position.

However with Poels dropping back, Jack Haig was able to push on and make his way up into fourth position. It perhaps could have been even more if not for an unfortunate coming together in the final moments, but fourth is still an impressive result heading into the last three days of the Ruta del Sol.

Jack spoke to us shortly after to give his thoughts:
“Today went relatively good. The breakaway went somewhat easier in the start but we all stayed together until 25km to go when there was a short crash. I came down but not too badly – I needed to change the bike. With the help of my teammates, I was able to come back to the final group and then the last 10km was pretty tricky with position and fast downhill into the finish. Me and Wout were in the final steep 900m with a great position, got a small gap, and I tried to follow his wheels until the last 200 metres where I was a bit unlucky to collide with another rider but it’s racing – I’m happy to finish where I was!”