Q&A Nathan Haas
The Australian pro tells Cyclist he won’t miss the Worldtour as he embarks on a new career as a gravel racer
Cyclist: After more than a decade as a road racer you’re following your friends Laurens ten Dam and Ian Boswell into the world of gravel racing. How does it feel?
Nathan Haas: I’m extremely excited to take on a new challenge. Over the last few years I’ve been dipping my toe in, and I started to fall in love with a completely new discipline of the sport. It’s still very much cycling, you have the same ingredients, but it’s kind of cooked a different way.
Cyc: Was there a certain point when your mind was made up that you weren’t going to stay in the Worldtour?
NH: For me, the big line in the sand was going to the [Italian gravel event] Nova Eroica last year at the same time as the Tour de France was happening. I just had this light turned on.
Back when road racing resumed after Covid restrictions, it went to this speed that I’ve never seen in the peloton before. It felt like everyone thought it might be the last race forever at every single race.
I was part of that Fabio Jakobsen crash at the Tour of Poland in 2020. I was ducking from a metal barrier while trying not to crash. I was fortunate enough not to fall off my bike, but I looked to the right… there was so much blood. I thought I was watching someone I know die. It was a little bit of a moment where I was like, ‘Why are we doing this to each other? This is insane.’ I think your values maybe shift somewhat.
Cyc: You’re moving from being part of a big enterprise where others manage so much for you. What are the advantages of managing yourself?
NH: One of the things that I can finally say is that there is so much shit equipment you are forced to use as a Worldtour cyclist. I’m so excited about not dealing with any products that I don’t want any more.
There was always a risk that this wouldn’t work financially and the whole plan that I’ve quit road cycling
‘With gravel, guys still want to race and win, but they don’t want to feel guilty for maybe having a beer after the race or having a fun week of travelling on the way’
for might have been for nothing. I’m very fortunate in the sense that gravel is a tidal wave, and no one’s going to be able to stop it. But having these really fun business conversations has been something that’s really energised me.
Cyc: We know the UCI is putting together a gravel race calendar.
How might that look?
NH: I think I’m sort of sitting in the cinema with everyone else at the moment, watching the film premiere where we’re a little bit in the dark in terms of exactly how it’s going to be. The distances of the races, the format, the numbers… there are still a lot of unknowns, but the information I have at the moment is that the UCI is not necessarily starting its own gravel races, but rather piggybacking off pre-existing races.
Gravel is still very undefined, and it means that there’s a lot of variety within the races. If there’s a World Cup in Tuscany, it’s going to be very much on the Strade Bianche-type roads, but then if we look at going into some of the Scandinavian countries, their gravel scene tends to be more sort of singletrack and technical.
Cyc: What kind of races would you prefer to take part in?
NH: The formats are something that
I’m waiting for eagerly. I’m holding my breath that it becomes a little bit more technical. That’s the one thing I think gravel racing might be missing at the moment, although I have a bias from being an ex-mountain biker.
That said, while I’m going in with some experience, I’m also somebody who needs to learn a lot about what gravel racing is, and even how the tactics play out. In my first gravel races I was very quickly surprised at some huge differences between how you race a road race and how you have to race on gravel.
Cyc: Is the UCI’S involvement a good thing for gravel?
NH: There are definitely going to be some teething issues. There’s also a little bit of hate coming from those in the United States who are annoyed that the UCI is getting involved, but I’m actually extremely happy that the UCI is getting involved. My vision for gravel is that there’s going to be two forms of the sport, and they can coexist.
Cyc: The ‘spirit of gravel’ is a term thrown around a lot. Is that something that you’re looking to embrace and do you think that spirit can be upheld as more rules and involvement from outside come into play?
NH: There’s a relaxed nature to the sport by structure and by the situation that it’s quite new. I think gravel is going to attract a certain type of athlete that might not be the perfect fit for the Worldtour structure and how strict it has become. With gravel, guys still want to race and win, but they don’t want to feel guilty for maybe having a beer after the race or having a fun week of travelling on the way, like adventuring, seeing
amazing places and maybe riding with some friends.
In road racing, sometimes you get an unexpected winner, but it’s usually the 20 favourites from the 20 different teams with eight guys behind them, servicing them at every point. Gravel is totally different. You’re completely unsupported and it’s all about your preparation and pre-thinking about equipment, tyres, tyre pressure, how much food you’re going to bring, what kind of bottles you’re going to take.
It’s putting the onus back on the rider as an individual.
Cyc: How does your fitness on the road compare to your fitness in gravel?
NH: This is where I’m a little bit at the mercy of what I’m about to jump head and toe into. Obviously, there is an expansion of the overall engine that you get from doing this for many years in the Worldtour, and certainly after I did my first Grand Tour the next season felt like I had three more gears on my bike. But I think the big difference is that on the road you try to attack away from people. You win the race from the front. Whereas I think gravel is more like a hard man’s race. Generally speaking, it’s about not getting dropped and then trying to find a way to win when everyone is absolutely on their knees.
Because gravel is such a grind out for so many hours, you’re not ever going to have a crazy high five-minute power for the race. In gravel, the five minutes that you’re trying to do towards the end of the race to win, it’s probably a really underwhelming number. So I think so much is going to come down to just how much you can suffer.
Cyc: How do you see the future, both for gravel and yourself?
NH: I’m not going to say I have a crystal ball here but I do think that there’s going to be different forms of gravel. We already see it now. There’s Lachlan Morton doing Badlands where you don’t sleep for two nights. We’re still calling it gravel and everyone associates it with the same spirit but it takes a different type of person to want to take on Badlands. I can assure you I’ll never be doing any of this ultra-endurance stuff. I’ve suffered enough in Grand Tours.
There are two races on my calendar this year that I’m just dying to get to. Two places I’ve actually never been: Kenya for the Migration Gravel Race, that’s going to be a phenomenal experience; the other one is the Rift Gravel Race on the dark, rocky soils of Iceland, past the water that’s just glacial blue. The photos I’ve seen are probably the most beautiful of any of the gravel races.
Cyc: Lastly, what’s the biggest thing you’re not going to miss from the professional peloton?
NH: French pasta.
For more on the burgeoning gravel racing scene, turn the page
‘I think gravel is more like a hard man’s race. It’s about not getting dropped and then trying to find a way to win when everyone is absolutely on their knees’