Chad Haga took a big gamble in 2024 on himself, switching fully from a 12-year highway profession to a brand new begin on gravel. For the upcoming 12 months, he is upping the ante once more, transferring to a full privateer setup for his longer efforts on chunkier terrain.
The Texas native discovered a house with PAS Regular Racing’s off-road crew after he formally retired from the highway, the ultimate two seasons with the lads’s Human Powered Well being ProTeam. Success on gravel was rapid for Haga, scoring seven high 5 finishes, together with second at Unbound Gravel 200 and third at The Traka 360.
Following his shocking debut at Unbound, Haga instructed Cyclingnews in Emporia that the outcome proved he was “not a roadie that got here to gravel for a retirement. I very a lot get pleasure from this”.
With a brief low season accomplished by mid-December and one week into his restart for a second gravel marketing campaign, Haga took time to speak with Cyclingnews once more about his latest plans. Not solely would he leap right into a solo journey with out crew assist for the primary time, he would additionally need to brake exhausting along with his planning and coaching to get well from a damaged arm.
“PAS Racing was instrumental in serving to me success this 12 months. I realized a ton. I felt I might tackle the complete bundle of logistics, particulars and managing all of that, as a result of this 12 months went effectively. So I might be a full-on privateer in 2025, pull collectively some sponsors I am actually enthusiastic about,” Haga instructed Cyclingnews, earlier than his surgical procedure for a damaged radius and ulna in his proper arm, which he suffered on a coaching trip close to his dwelling in Spain.
“Subsequent 12 months goes to be an journey. It’s a little bit of a big gamble, seeing as how gravel is turning into extra team-oriented. Whereas my coronary heart was with the PAS Racing crew and a enjoyable group of individuals, I am not in it only for enjoyable. I have to assist my household.”
As soon as he obtained “every little thing screwed again collectively” so he might use his fingers to sort, he was again on a coach and again on the pc 15 days after the solo crash – his instruments for privateering. He admitted he had by no means suffered such a extreme profession setback earlier than, however would take it as a “problem”.
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“A part of the draw is attending to race in cool new locations expertise new cultures and tackle new challenges. So I am enthusiastic about that. First, I’ve to get again on the bike! In the mean time I do not know what that timeline appears like.”
The absence of a full crew may even be a problem for him subsequent season. PAS Racing was by far the biggest gravel crew of the previous season, additionally supporting Tobias Kongstad and Sien Nordahl Svendsen, who completed third and sixth, respectively, at Unbound Gravel 200 within the males’s elite area, and Karolina Migon, girls’s winner at The Traka 360, La Indomable and Gravel Suisse in 2024.
“With PAS, I had lots of freedom on my calendar, so that did not actually issue into the choice. It was an enormous assist to have them (PAS Racing) managing all the logistics, some assist with gear and assist on the races, so I might concentrate on studying tips on how to race gravel successfully, and all the opposite items that go together with off-road racing.
“The PAS crew needs a unified look, which is totally comprehensible, however meaning there’s not a lot area to place different sponsors on there. So it got here all the way down to an financial determination for me,” he stated about parting methods, noting he would announce his new partnerships in January.
“And meaning there’s additionally extra on my plate. I will be leaning into the privateer community – they’re fairly good about sharing assets and serving to one another out. Hopefully it is going to go nice once more,” he stated with a nervous snicker about being his personal journey agent.
Sweeping by way of a studying curve this previous 12 months was huge, however he is positive he has a recipe for extra success, as soon as he is again to full coaching.
“A part of the rationale I’ve succeeded in gravel is that I actually love to coach for lengthy distances. I did extraordinarily lengthy coaching rides for enjoyable,” Haga stated.
“There’s two avenues to succeeding in gravel – being real and outcomes. Being a quick racer and one folks cheer for, it is an effective way to pay the payments. Sponsors want illustration on the entrance of the race, and it is a social media sport additionally. That is been an enormous studying half for me. That is an extra job in itself.
“I like to discover my limits – see what I’m able to and see if I can stretch my limits. That payoff is intrinsic to the game and I haven’t got to be satisfied.”
