Chad Haga spent eight years in the WorldTour on Team DSM (formerly known as Giant-Shimano and Sunweb). During that time, he raced in 12 Grand Tours including the Tour de France, six Giro d’Italias (where he won a stage in 2019), and four Vuelta a Españas. In 2022, he stepped back from the WorldTour to join the ProTeam Human Powered Health. Although he's spent more than a decade in Europe, he was born and raised in McKinney, Texas and didn’t start racing seriously until he was finishing up his Mechanical Engineering degree at Texas A&M, a relatively late start that he says has been a benefit in more ways than one.
In this conversation, Chad talks to Payson about his decision to switch from the WorldTour to a ProTeam after eight successful years, how his life as a professional racer has transformed since he had children, and how he's reconnecting with mountain biking in a big way. They also talk about how he plans to use his mechanical engineering degree after he retires from professional racing, the new races he's planning to do in the coming season, and how he and his family have come to feel at home in Spain over the past few years.
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YouTube: Payson McElveen