Australian looking to put disappointing Classics form behind him
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Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda)(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda).(Image credit: Barry Ryan)
Heinrich Haussler enjoyed a great season in 2011(Image credit: Casey Gibson/Garmin)
At the finish line of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda) was ready to close a disappointing chapter in his season and focus on the rest of the year. The Australian finished 32nd in Roubaix, and in doing so, closed out a below-par Classics campaign that never got off the ground.
"It wasn't good but I'm at least glad that my form picked up a little bit after Harelbeke," Haussler told Cyclingnews.
"At least a bit of power has come back but I'm still not where I want to be. Another year has passed but I just have to try harder next year."
Haussler recently criticised his preparation leading into the Classics for his lack of form. Unlike previous years when he slowly built up form in Europe, this season he was forced to race in Australia in order to set up a possible qualification for the national Olympic road team. The new race programme affected his form and fitness, with several bouts of sickness throughout the spring.
"I'm going to go back to my old school stuff, do altitude training, go cross-country skiing in the winter, don't go to the Tour Down Under and just build up slowly with Qatar and Algarve."
After a week's vacation in Las Vegas, Haussler will head to Boulder, Colorado for three weeks of intense altitude training but he has already set his sights on a Tour de France place in Jonathan Vaughters's American team.
"The Olympics don't look too good at the moment, just because of my results," he admitted. "The other guys [in the national team] are that strong at the moment and I need results to qualify, I have no results. So I'd like to do the Tour."
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
