Chad Haga will bring the curtain down on his road career at the end of this season before switching his focus to gravel racing in 2024. The American made the announcement on social media on Monday.
After turning professional with Optum in 2011, Haga graduated to the WorldTour in 2014, when he joined Giant-Shimano – later Sunweb and DSM. The Texan would spend eight years with the team, and he was a key part of the squad that helped Tom Dumoulin to overall victory at the 2017 Giro d’Italia.
The individual highlight of Haga’s career would come at the 2019 Giro, when he won the final time trial in Verona. The Texan had won a silver medal in the team time trial with Sunweb at the previous year’s Innsbruck Worlds.
At the beginning of last season, Haga returned to his first professional team, now known as Human Powered Health. It is not yet clear if the American squad will be able to secure sponsorship for next season.
Haga, who lines out with Human Powered Health at the Tour of Denmark this week, confirmed on Monday that he would switch to the gravel scene in 2024.
“When I began this journey as a full-time bike racer in 2011, I could only dream of what I might accomplish. Now, so many years later, I have checked nearly all of the boxes, besides lots of boxes I couldn't have imagined back then,” Haga wrote.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed the racing family of @humanpoweredhealth these last two years, and I will finish my season on the road as planned.
“Then it's time for me to move on to the next thing, which, as it turns out, is still racing bikes! This shouldn't surprise anybody who follows my training (and my foray into gravel racing with The Traka), but I'm taking my talents to the gravel next year!”
The 34-year-old made his gravel debut in the Traka event in Girona in May, placing 11th. He has yet to formalise his gravel schedule for next year.
“It's early going now, so I'm still defining what that's going to look like, but I'm excited and nervous in a way I haven't been before,” Haga wrote. “I'm praying for the right doors to open as I construct this project, as they have for my whole career.”
The end of the road.... When I began this journey as a full-time bike racer in 2011, I could only dream of what I might accomplish. Now, so many years later, I have checked nearly all of the boxes, besides lots of boxes I couldn't have imagined back then. 1/nAugust 14, 2023
