The Hot Seat: Inside Chad Haga's Emotional Giro Victory

On Team Sunweb, American Chad Haga has long been a dutiful helper to Tom Dumoulin, a former winner of the Giro d’Italia. But when Dumoulin crashed out of the 2019 Giro on stage 4, Haga was given the opportunity to race for himself. 

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A strong time trialist, Haga targeted the final stage 21 time trial for success. The Giro’s final stage finished in Verona's centuries-old Roman arena. For two weeks, Haga intentionally lost time on every stage, saving his legs as the Giro summited the Italian Alps and Dolomites. 

In Verona, far down on the general classification, Haga went off the line among the first starters in the individual time trial. He set the fastest time, beating rival and world hour record holder Victor Campenaerts. But with dozens of more riders to come — including double Giro time trial stage winner Primoz Roglic — Haga was uncertain if his time would hold. 

In this exclusive film, we visit Haga on the “hot seat” where he nervously watches his competitors finish, and follow him in the emotional moments after a career-defining performance.