Paris-Nice points jersey winner disappointed about Sanremo, ready for Dwars door Vlaanderen
The Garmin-Cervelo battleship started Saturday's 2011 opening Monument, Milano-Sanremo, as the heavy favorites to put one of their three captains across the finish line first. Unfortunately, each captain fell to the wayside along the 298 kilometers from Italy's northern center to the Ligurian town of Sanremo.
Farrar didn't have it on the Manie, Hushovd suffered an unfortunate crash at the base of the Manie, and then, on the Poggio, it was Haussler's turn as well.
On Monday, the Australian wrote on his website and admits a certain amount of bafflement to what happened in the finale of Saturday's race. He went from considering an attack on the Cipressa to getting dropped at the top of the Poggio only a few minutes later.
"Milano-Sanremo is over. There was nothing there, at least, nothing that I imagined. I felt good the whole day, and on the Cipressa, I even thought about attacking, but 200 meters from the top of the Poggio, it was over. I could not follow the decisive attacks.
Of course, being dropped with 200 meters to go on the Poggio isn't necessarily a fatal thing, but unfortunately, Haussler didn't have enough to close the gap on his own, and the group of dropped riders was in disarray.
"At the top, the gap was not all that big, but I couldn't get across. Because we didn't chase immediately and vehemently for the first group, the deficit grew ever larger, and I didn't have anything more to do with the outcome of the race."
The winner of two stages of this year's Tour of Qatar concedes that his efforts on Saturday were a let down, but won't go so far as to deem anything wrong - and why should he?
"I was naturally disappointed, but I discussed my thoughts and analyzed the outcome of the race with the leaders of the team. I cannot say that I felt bad, maybe it was just not my day. What I certainly cannot forget is last season. Due to the injury, I have not trained much in the last year, and I was denied little races and participation in any of the three Grand Tours. To win Milano-Sanremo, everything must be right."
Ahead of Milano-Sanremo, many of the favorites, including Philippe Gilbert and Fabian Cancellara, refused to put much emphasis on the year's first major one day classic. Haussler, however, listed Milano-Sanremo as an objective, but even in doing that, it's understood that La Primavera is a quirky race, and at nearly 300 kilometers, it demands something a little bit different of its participants.
Looking back, Haussler has little to be disappointed in. If anything, he's in the same boat as Tom Boonen - in solid, fighting form, but lacking that last little bit. It would seem highly likely that Haussler should be able to sharpen his knife just right over the next two weekends, just in time for the Ronde van Vlaanderen. First off, Haussler is set to start his first Belgian classic on Wednesday, the Dwars door Vlaanderen.
Tomorrow, I travel to Belgium, and then on Wednesday, I start my first Flemish race of the season, the 66th Dwars Door Vlaanderen, with a start in Roeselare and finish in Waregem. We'll see how I do on the 201 kilometer course, studded with 12 cobblestone sections. My form isn't all that bad. Last Saturday, it didn't me to a win in Sanremo, but let's see what comes forward in the next weeks in Flanders. I'm optimistic."
Considering Hushovd's bad luck, Farrar's penchant for never racing well at Sanremo, and Haussler's not quite there form, things are just fine in the super team's camp. However, if things don't turn around at least a little bit this upcoming weekend with the E3 Prijs Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem, the alarm bells might begin to toll ever so slightly.