Bahrain's original leader coming into the race, Landa was dropped for the second straight day and lost a huge 22 minutes as a result, the Spaniard's struggles only getting worse as his focus now surely turns to a supporting role for the next two weeks.
On the flip side, Haig rode himself even further into podium contention as he followed Movistar duo Enric Mas and Miguel Angel Lopez in their pursuit of Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) after the Slovenian attacked on the Puerto de Almacher.
The trio's chase was successful after a crash on the descent saw Roglič caught, the group of four finishing together with Haig dropping to sixth overall but gaining a valuable 37 seconds on INEOS pair Adam Yates and Egan Bernal in the process, who both endured another tough day in the saddle as Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) rode into the red jersey.
The Victorian native said while it was unexpected, Roglič's attack was a good showing of aggressive cycling and only increased the level of friendly competition between the two as he also revealed a show of respect towards the Slovenian following his crash.
“There was a bit of headwind there on the climb so it was a bit surprising to see him go, but I’m happy, it makes the race interesting,” Haig said of Roglič's move after the finish. “It also created some good time gaps.”
“I made sure he was OK. I said ‘you all right mate?' ‘No worries’, was Roglič’s answer, so he seemed to be pretty good.”
Haig said he wasn't surprised Roglič crashed given the treacherous nature of the descent.
“I don’t know if it was sketchy but one of those roads you looked at, and it looked and felt incredibly slippery and I may be a little more tentative after the Tour,” he said, recalling the bad fall on a descent that sent him out of the Tour de France.
The 27-year-old added he was confused by Mas and Lopez's unwillingness to further extend the gap on Yates and Bernal behind who remain in the podium hunt despite another setback.
“That was the most confusing thing on the descent. They have numbers and we’re distancing Bernal and I’m not sure if Mas was nervous," Haig said. "But I expected more collaboration from them.”
“I didn’t collaborate on the climb, I was pretty pinned. But I said when we get to the final I’ll do my best and let’s try and put some time into these guys.
"They helped a little bit, but I expected more because we were distancing a champion."
Regardless, Haig is looking the best he ever has and showed no signs of slowing down in the first course since the rest day, revealing his mindset is certainly aiding in his stellar form.
"Every day I’m getting more confident and today was a good test again.”
La Vuelta continues with a hilly 133.6 kilometre stage 11 from Antequera to Valdepeñas de Jaén that has all the ingredients for a breakaway. Watch the action live from 11pm AEST on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand and 10:50pm AEST on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker.
