2010 was supposed to be the year that Heinrich Haussler took on the world's best and started walking away with victories. Following a blockbuster first season with the Cervelo TestTeam in 2009, the expectations coming into 2010 were huge. Haussler had given the world taste of his nearly infinite talent in 2009; it seemed a guarantee that 2010 would certainly hold more. Unfortunately, fate and injury stepped in and put paid to the big dreams...at least for now.
After a strong start at the Tour of Qatar at the beginning of February, Haussler suffered what would end up being the demise of his 2010 at the Volta ao Algarve, in the middle of the second month of the year. The consequences of the crash weren't immediately apparent - in fact, Haussler finished a fantastic 2nd place at the Belgian opener, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad just a week later. After that though, it was all downhill. Haussler had to take a pass on his beloved Northern Classics, and wasn't able to return to racing until June.
His comeback in June started off in fine fashion with a 3rd place at the GP Kanton Aargau. A week later, a stage victory on the second day of the Tour de Suisse showed that it wasn't going to be very long before the Aussie/German was back to 100% form. Unfortunately, luck wasn't with Haussler, and a controversial crash two days later, caused by Mark Cavendish, took the 2009 Tour de France stage winner right back out of competition.
This time, the bothersome knee could not be ignored any longer. Haussler took himself out of the running of a start at the Tour de France and addressed his ailing knee in hopes of ridding himself of the problem once and for all. Haussler, who recently gave up his German citizenship to be able to race for Australia, underwent surgery on his knee.
The recovery from 2010's knee problems took far longer than the Classics star ever would have imagined, and just two days before the start of the Tour of Britain, VeloNation caught up with the freshly minted Australian who is finally back to racing pain-free. The Tour de Suisse stage winner has seen a lot of changes since his last race back in June at the Tour de Suisse, notably an improving knee, the possibility of racing the Worlds with Australia, soon followed by that chance evaporating, to the demise of his Cervelo team, to the most recent development - the merger between the Classics squad of Cervelo with the rest of the Garmin outfit to form a super-Classics team that will undoubtedly be able to go toe to toe with any other team in the world when the roads get bumpy next spring.
VeloNation: The Tour of Britain will be your first race since June. How are you feeling? How's the knee?
Heinrich Haussler: I'm feeling ok. I haven't been training for three weeks so far. So far, with the training that I've been doing, my form has been coming around really well. I was on the bike for two weeks, then I had a few days off, went to Eurobike for four days, so that was another seven or eight days where I couldn't train. Then I got back on the bike for another week, so in total, I've been on the bike for three weeks.
The knee is fine. It took a long time for the swelling to go down and for the tissue around it to heal, just a lot of rehab, and making sure we didn't take any risks by jumping back into the races too quickly. I've had this problem since February, so I didn't want to rush into things and carry it through to next year, because next year is going to be a big year and really important.
VN: What are you looking at for the rest of this year? Italian Classics? Or are you just taking it day by day?
HH: Not really day by day. I definitely have my eye on Paris-Tours. I still have a bit of time until then, so I'm going to use the Tour of Britain to see how the legs are, use it pretty much as training, get the legs back into racing, get the rhythm and feeling back, get the hardness of the racing in the legs, and then I think it's still 1,2,3 weeks until Paris-Tours after that. I don't really have any big goals anymore for this season, but mainly I just want to get in as much racing as possible to get me through to next year.
VN: When did you find out that your Cervelo Test Team would close up shop at the end of the season?
HH: We got contacted by the team the morning before it was announced. It was a shocker for the whole team. If they think that's what needs to be done, then ok. I mean, for me, I'm not being selfish or anything, but for me, it's not so bad, because the Classics group is staying together. Garmin also has a great structure, good riders, and a really strong team for the Classics. For the Classics and the one day races, it's only going to make us stronger.
VN: There was talk that the two potential ProTour teams from Australia were talking to you. Were those serious talks, or was Garmin the destination all along?
HH: A lot of teams rang my manager and asked what was going on and wanted to know if I was free to sign or anything, but when I heard that Cervelo was going to join with Garmin, there was never really any option of even changing teams. I want to stay with the Classics team from Cervelo, I want to stay with these guys. You need a strong team around you for the Classics, one that's not only strong, but one you're close to.
I'm not going to brag or anything, but the Cervelo bikes really are amazing, and I'd like to ride them for as long as possible. Really, I never thought that a bike would make that much of a difference. That's why I wanted to stay with this team: for the riders and the bikes.
VN: It seems like there's a juggernaut in the making - the Classics core from Cervelo is set to be added to an already strong Garmin team.
HH: That's what I mean, like I was saying, I feel bad for the other guys on the team, because we all got along really well, you know, everyone from the riders to the masseurs to the mechanics to the management, but for me, the move to Garmin was just a win-win situation.
VN: Would you consider moving down to Girona to take up shop at Garmin World Headquarters, or will you stay in Freiburg?
HH: No, no, I will stay in Freiburg.
VN: Is all the paperwork squared away in terms of a visa for you to live in the country where you were just recently a citizen?
HH: It's all done, it's all be worked out. I can stay in Germany as a foreigner. [laughs]
VN: Looking back at the tough 2010 season right now, what can you take from this year?
HH: Maybe I shouldn't have overdone it in training or in the races when I started having knee problems. I was just trying to block out the pain, because I knew I needed the training and the racing kilometers in my legs. Maybe just listen more to my body, especially with the knees, if you have knee problems, it's not something you should play around with or muck around with. You can do some major damage. The year before was really, really unbelievable, stuff like this happens. You know, it's like a rollercoaster. You can't have 15 years where you're at a high level. A year like this just makes me hungrier for next year, it's just giving me more motivation to train harder. Next year, I just want to get out there and smash, show I can show the fans, the team, and everyone what I'm capable of.
VN: There has been a lot of talk about how the three Garmin-Cervelo fastmen will mesh together in 2010: you, Farrar, and Hushovd. It seems unquestioned that it will work out just fine, but how do you see it playing out?
HH: A lot of people have been saying that and talking about that, but I think Tyler is an easy guy to get along with. I think he's a true sprinter. Whereas me and Thor, we're better for races like Roubaix and Flanders. So far, that's worked out well. We get along. If we didn't get along, I wouldn't have gone to Garmin. I don't see any troubles there. That's why I want to stay with the team. We just get along that great, we work well together, and really, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if he wins, or I win, or Andreas wins. We just want to get out there and win as a team.
VN: Are you excited to be working with Jonathan Vaughters?
HH: When it was announced, he contacted me the next day. He seems like a nice guy. We had a good conversation.
VN: What are your hopes for the Tour of Britain? Have you ever raced it before?
HH: No, I've never done it before. I'm really excited about it. I just want to get back to racing again. I've been riding my bike since I was six years old, it's not quite like someone taking your heart out, but it's definitely like someone takes something away from you that you've had pretty much your whole life, something that you love, I just want to get out there on my bike and smash it up the hills and not worry about anything. I just want to get back into racing. I'm really excited.