Haas and Katusha-Alpecin set for Santos Tour Down Under

After honing his speed at the Lexus Blackburn Bay Crits and taking a tilt at a road national championship in Ballarat, Nathan Haas will get his WorldTour season started at the 2019 Santos Tour Down Under (TDU).

Nathan Haas. Source: Getty

After a largely difficult 2018 which ended strongly, Australian Haas will make his eighth start in Adelaide and second in Katusha-Alpecin colours.

"To be frank, I don’t feel like any season would feel like it started without beginning here in Adelaide,” Haas said.

"I’m excited about the changes for the 2019 race including the finale for the whole race being the Willunga Showdown. It’s made the stage more special than it even was before."

Haas has finished in the TDU top-ten three times and he will be hoping for a repeat alongside team-mates Alex Dowsett (GBR), Jens Debusschere (BEL), Ruben Guerreiro (POR), Marco Haller (AUT), Viacheslav Kuznetsov (RUS), Dmitrii Strakhov (RUS).

“Haas finished fourth overall at the 2017 race and fifth overall in 2014, so we know he will come to race hard and put on a show for the fans,” said race director Mike Turtur.

Ewan squad also announced

Also announced is the Lotto Soudal squad to support Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan in the 15-20 January TDU sprints.

Like Haas, Ewan will contest the Bay Crits and road national championships before the TDU.

Ewan, who joined the Belgian based outfit after several seasons with Mitchelton-Scott, will have Tour de France mountains classification winner Thomas De Gendt (BEL), Adam Blythe (GBR), Carl Fredrik Hagen (NOR), Roger Kluge (GER), Tomasz Marczynski (POL) and fellow Australian Adam Hansen looking out for him.