Cervélo TestTeam’s Heinrich Haussler was the revelation of last year’s classics season, but is being forced to sit out the next few races as he recovers from a knee problem. The Australian/German crashed out of stage 4 of the Volta ao Algarve between Vila Real de Santo Antonio and Tavira, injuring his left knee. He recovered sufficiently to win the sprint for second in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but another crash on stage 4 of Paris-Nice between Maurs and Mende aggravated the problem.
"Heinrich has a contusion of the left knee, with injury of the quadriceps tendon," said Dr. Andreas Goesele, Cervélo’s Chief Medical Officer. "We are performing intensive treatments every day, involving both physiotherapy and osteopathy. At the moment, we do not know when he will return to racing, but the most important thing is that he heals completely. In elite sport you have to be completely fit to perform well."
Haussler finished second in Milano-Sanremo last year, only just pipped on the line by HTC-Columbia’s Mark Cavendish. Two weeks later he added another second place, in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, as he won the sprint behind Quick Step’s Stijn Devolder. The week after that he finished a career-best seventh at Paris Roubaix.
This year though he’ll be forced to watch these races on TV, but is focused on recovering from his injury. "I am glad that we know what the problem is and that it can be fixed,” he said. “The classics time is the most important part of my season, and I am very disappointed, but I will come back when I am fully recovered – and I will come back stronger. This is just making me more focused."
"We will miss Heinrich,” said Cervélo Sports Director Jean-Paul van Poppel, “but we still have a very strong classics team, and we will maintain our focus on these races. In our goal races our riders have to be 100% fit."