After a difficult day yesterday in Paris-Roubaix, Heinrich Haussler and his Garmin-Cervélo team have come to the difficult decision that the Australian will miss this year’s Tour de France. He will instead focus everything on getting back into top form by the autumn, where he will target a big objective.
“For me the big goal this year is the world championships in Copenhagen,” he told Het Nieuwsblad. “I have a tough week behind me, both mentally and physically. I could not participate as before, and that is difficult to bear.
“We have decided that I am not going to start the Tour this summer. I will spend the time to come back and regain my former strength.”
Haussler had a breakthrough season in 2009, winning a stage in the Tour and Paris-Nice, taking two in the Volta ao Algarve and finishing second in Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and the Tour of Qatar.
Last season was much more difficult, with crashes in the Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice and the Tour de Suisse causing knee problems and forcing him to miss most of the year. He ended 2010 with a handful of days’ racing, and while the opening weeks of 2011 were encouraging, his lack of a base has meant that he hasn’t been able to keep building his form.
Instead, he appears less fit than he was a month ago, and that is a cause for concern. Rather than keep banging his head against a wall, he and his team have decided that the pressure needs to be taken off and that he should be given the room to build things gradually.
Missing the Tour is undoubtedly a very frustrating decision for all concerned, but all will be worth it if he can succeed team-mate Thor Hushovd as world road race champion on September 25th in Copenhagen.