At the Bahrain Victorious team bus in Copenhagen, Jack Haig seemed remarkably upbeat for a rider who had just punctured in the opening time trial of the Tour de France. More to the point, he seemed remarkably upbeat for someone who had his hotel room searched at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday as part of an anti-doping investigation into his team.
"I'm a pretty upbeat guy, there's much worse things going on in the world than someone knocking on my door at 5:30 in the morning," Haig told Cyclingnews after his ride on stage 1.
This was the first time Haig, who leads Bahrain Victorious' GC challenge at the Tour alongside Damiano Caruso, had spoken publicly about the police raids. Riders had been prevented from talking to the media at their hotel following Thursday's searches, and questions about the matter went unanswered at the team's pre-race press conference later that day.
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The team indicated that would be the same again on the Tour's opening stage, but Haig was willing to discuss what had happened. He confirmed that his home in Andorra was not searched as part of the first round of raids on Monday when the homes of several riders and staff members were searched in an international police operation spanning six countries.
"I know quite a lot of people's homes were searched, but luckily I was at home and no problems," Haig said.
Haig's hotel room was searched on Thursday but he seemed totally unperturbed by it.
"To be honest, I need to say thank you to the Danish police, or the officers that came," he said. "They were actually very polite and nice. That made the experience better than out could have been.
"It hasn't really interrupted me too much. Obviously, it would have been nice not to wake up so early in the morning but I managed to fall back asleep afterwards. They took 45 minutes to an hour of my time at 5:30 in the morning but they were all very polite and friendly and went about what they needed to go about in a respectful way. I went back to sleep, woke up again, and went on with my day."
Even if he didn't lose too much sleep, the whole affair has surely created a psychological burden. When a team is the target of anti-doping raids, it casts a shadow of doubt over every rider. However, Haig brushed off the idea that his credibility had been called into question.
"There's a bit of chitter-chatter and we have to do interviews like this and everything," he said.
"The race has started now, I enjoy the pressure and everything that's to do with the racing, I don't really enjoy the couple of days leading up to it anyway, so I'm happy to be here."
Haig, who battled back from his puncture and bike change to finish in 53rd place, 44 seconds down on pre-race favourite Tadej Pogacar, has now got his Tour de France underway, but the investigation rumbles on. When it will clear up is anyone's guess, as this is the second straight Tour police have searched the team.
Some of the messaging from the Bahrain Victorious camp has been pointed, with the team stating earlier this week that the investigation was "aimed at intentionally damaging the team's reputation" while Dylan Teuns made reference to "French sensationalism". Haig, however, struck a more conciliatory tone.
"To be honest, what happens now, I'm not sure really matters too much," he said. "If it happens again and happens in a respectful way, like it did, there's nothing for us to be worried about.
"We let them do what they need to do, do their job, and we continue doing our job. Just try to let it pass by. There's nothing else really to say."
