Garmin-Cervelo rider off to a terrific start, looking to continue to prepare quietly for main spring goals
Following a 2010 campaign that can only be described as one to forget, Garmin-Cervelo's German turned Aussie, Heinrich Haussler, has seemingly returned to his best. With two stage wins at the Tour of Qatar and a 2nd overall finish, the Australian appears to be in impeccable condition. On his personal website, the rider who will turn 27 in two days time, was more than satisfied with his opening efforts to the 2011 season.
"I'm back from the Orient. That was a perfect start to the season. Last Saturday, I didn't start the fifth stage of the Tour of Oman, but with my victories in the second and third stages of the Tour of Qatar, I'm more than happy. It's a great feeling when one already has two victories in February. Ok, a small downer is the missed overall victory in Qatar."
Like everyone else, Haussler knows that he's on the right track to improve on his sensational 2009 Classic finishes: 2nd at the Tour of Flanders and 2nd at Milano-Sanremo. The Italian season opening Monument and the Flemish Classics are once again tops on his list. Haussler's choice in how to get to top form for those races has taken an interesting turn though - he won't take part in the upcoming Belgian Opening Weekend races of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. The former Omloop Het Nieuwsblad runner-up is opting instead to put his head down and settle into a nearly two week block of training ahead of France's premiere early season stage race, Paris-Nice.
"I know that I'm in form, and I will continue to work hard toward my goals of Milano-Sanremo and the Flemish Classics in April. I won't take part in either the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne this coming weekend. These races really suit me, and I would have liked to take part, but I believe the right thing is to do another training block of just under two weeks. I will train together with [teammate] Matthew Wilson until Paris-Nice, and then I'll get back into racing with the Race to the Sun on the 6th of March."
Haussler's decision to forego the Belgian openers underlines his focused Spring program. Haussler will race Paris-Nice, then six days later, will take part in La Primavera, in hopes of taking victory in the race that was so nearly his in 2009. After that, he'll head to Belgium for the meat of the spring: Dwars Door Vlaanderen, the E3 Prijs, Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix.
A focused and hard training Haussler with no knee issues and already in good form? It could be a great sign of things to come when the big time racing heats up in just a few weeks. It looks like Haussler's teammate and adopted Flandrian, Andreas Klier's words, are looking more than fair. The veteran German said that Haussler is, in his mind at least, the most talented rider in the world, and an in form Haussler should fear no one.