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WLC Podcast: Nathan Haas on Joining the Gravel Community, the State of Pro Cycling, and Happiness

By We Love Cycling

Relax with the fifth episode of Matt Stephens chatting up another cycling professional, this time with a career plot twist.

After a decade spent in professional road cycling, Nathan Haas retired in 2021 to embark on a new career as a gravel rider. Nathan enjoyed success all over the world during his road stint, including overall victories at the Tour of Britain and Herald Sun Tour, two wins in the Japan Cup, stage wins in the Tour of Oman and Vuelta a Burgos, and strong displays in the Amstel Gold Race, including 4th in 2017.

The move to racing on gravel marks something of a homecoming for Haas, who began his cycling career as a mountain biker before going on to enjoy a decade in the World Tour with Garmin, Dimension Data, Katusha and Cofidis. He says he never pigeonholed himself as a road cyclist, even though he admits that road holds his greatest accomplishments to date. Now he races aboard Colnago G3-X bikes and his 2022 gravel schedule involved events such as Santa Vall and The Traka in Spain, as well as Unbound Gravel, the BWR North Carolina, and SBT GRVL in the United States.

With Matt Stephens, Haas dissects his big career change decision and how it has been treating him, how the road and gravel scenes differ, the takeaways from the new discipline, why the logistics of a pro gravel rider can be tricky, why pro cycling needs its Ted Lasso, and more.

Tune in for a plunge into the idiosyncratic world of gravel racing.