Compatriot Jack Haig on O'Connor: "Ben has a really good chance now to win the Vuelta"

Ben O'Connor has taken hold of the red jersey at the Vuelta a España and he has gotten himself, unexpectedly, in a position where the overall victory is actually possible. The Australian has almost five minutes of lead over his most direct rivals and compatriot Jack Haig of Bahrain - Victorious has talked about O'Connor's chances in the rest of the race and how this happened on stage 6.

"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 said in words to Cyclingnews. "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."

Bahrain was one of the teams putting in the work on the day to Yunquera where the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider joined the day's breakaway and then decimated his group companions. Along the way, he regained the time he had lost in previous days to jump into the race lead, and ascended the hilltop finish at the same speed as the peloton.

"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 tells. "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."

O'Connor will have tons of tests and no less than eight summit finishes to deal with, but he is a quality climber in a field that lacks the talent of Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel who were head and shoulders above the rest at the Tour de France. "I would also say, though, that Ben has a really good chance now to win the Vuelta," Haig believes.

"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 and especially now, getting on the final podium."