Jack Haig and Michael Storer lead new wave of Aussie cycling stars

Richie Porte is on the downhill run, but a new wave of young Australian cyclists are heading for the summit.

Jack Haig, right, on the podium with winner Primoz Roglic, centre, and Enric Mas

Richie Porte is on the downhill run, but a new wave of young Australian cyclists are heading for the summit. And they revealed themselves on Monday when Queenslander Jack Haig became only the second Australian after Cadel Evans to finish on the podium at the Tour of Spain and West Australian Michael Storer took out the King of the Mountain category.

Haig, who suffered a badly broken collarbone in a horror crash in the Tour de France just two months ago, finished third behind winner Primoz Roglic of Slovenia with Spain’s Enric Mas second.

Storer, riding for Team DSM, shot to prominence when he surprised everyone — including himself — with victory in the mountainous seventh stage of the Vuelta, tackling six classified climbs on the way.

“I didn’t expect to become a stage winner of La Vuelta today,” the 24-year-old said at the time.

He probably didn’t expect to win another one three days later before attacking on stage 18 to claim the climber’s jersey and wear it all the way to the finish.

Haig, who turned 28 on the day of the final-stage time trial, need surgery on his shattered collarbone after crashing in the Tour and missed the Tokyo Olympics, only just making it back in time for the Vuelta.

“The surgery I needed was worse than I expected. And when I came here, it was to do my best to help Mikel (Landa). A podium was definitely not even considered,” Haig said.

However, Landa, his Bahrain Victorious team leader, abandoned on stage 17 and Haig decided to have a crack at a podium position.

Consistent performances kept him in the top 10 and he finished 17th in the time trial and put 26 seconds on his nearest rival, Britain’s Adam Yates, to cement third place.

Evans finished third in the Vuelta in 2009 and went on to win the Tour de France two years later. Haig is keen to take the same path.

“Cadel went on to do amazing things after his Vuelta podium and if I can do even half of what he did, I’d be very satisfied,” he said