Jack Haig will start his first pro season with Orica GreenEDGE. The neo-pro rider helped his teammate Caleb Ewan to three wins at the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic. Interviewed by Cyclingnews, he explained he is now focusing only on his next race: Herald Sun Tour.

He already has experience from the World Tour level as he has done the Santos Down Under twice. "Having the opportunity to race Tour Down Under with UniSA the last two years has made it less of a daunting transition having raced with all the WorldTour guys," the Australian rider explained. "As well as just being in an Australian team having done the training camp with GreenEdge two years ago and I got to know everyone then so when I came to training camp at the end of last year I didn't have that awkward new person feeling because I'd known everyone and the staff. Obviously there is still some of that awkwardness there being the new guy but it definitely wasn't as scary
or daunting if I jumped into an Italian team or a French team straight away."

But this year he will miss his home WorldTour race. "I do Cadels Race and Sun Tour so I think we have a really strong team for Cadels race and hopefully we can get the win there," he said. "Going to Sun Tour with Caleb targeting stages, I think myself and Damien [Howson] are there to mix things up on GC and see how we go. I'd really like to be firing when we get to Europe, I have a really good race block with some nice tours after March so that's were I really want to start hitting some good form."

Even if his main goal is to discover the World Tour level, he targets a win. He expects to be present at the Vuelta a Espana. "It's always there on the back of my head that I'd love to win a race or get a really good result but I also know that being first year pro, it can be pretty hard to do that and you need to be a bit of an exception to get that result in the he first year," he said. "I am working harder than ever before to achieve that, but I'd be happy to come out of the end of the season not having any results but having a really good season, helping
the team and cementing my spot in a WorldTour team."

"I am not on the list for the Vuelta yet but I would really like to perform well during the year and hopefully get a start at that," he said. "I'd really like to finish my season having got a start at a grand tour. It's something that I'd like to see myself doing well at in the next couple of years so starting the Vuelta would be good. It's the end of the season and general warmer weather, it's not so stressful."