Chad Haga’s 12th place finish on the opening-day time trial at the Giro d’Italia might seem like a remarkable comeback tale, but the American and his team are keen not to view it as such.
Haga was the rider worst affected when a car ploughed into a group of Giant-Alpecin riders on a training ride in Spain in late January, needing 98 stitches from his face to his sternum. Just two months later he was racing again at Criterium International, and a few weeks on, he is putting in impressive displays at the highest level, currently sitting ninth overall at the Giro.
Haga and his team, however, don’t want his performances to be viewed as ‘good’ in the light of what happened at the start of this year, but as ‘good’ per se.
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“The thing for Chad was not to be a good cyclist in relation to the accident that happened. If you finish 12th here it’s a good result, totally disconnected from the accident,” Giant-Alpecin manager explained to Cyclingnews in Arnhem at the Giro.
“It’s not a case of ‘ah this happened to you, it was good’. This was just, really good. Almost top 10 in a Grand Tour prologue. That means we leave it behind.”
Haga himself took great heart from his time trial ride and, like his manager, is looking ahead rather than behind.
“I’m very happy with it. I was a prologue specialist in the US, and I’ve done a lot of hard work trying to perform at this level," he told Cyclingnews.
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