Heinrich Haussler has lived multiple lives during his tenure in the professional peloton. The path from his beginnings as a fast-finishing neophyte at Gerolsteiner to his current role as Classics road captain at Bahrain-Merida has been marked by as much heartbreak as happiness, but the Australian has always emerged with his enthusiasm intact. From Grand Tour stage wins to career-threatening crashes, from near misses at the Classics to a national title, Haussler has seen just about everything. As he begins his 15th season as a pro, he talks Cyclingnews through the five races that changed his life.
Vuelta a España 2005. Stage 19: San Martín de Valdeiglesias – Alcobendas
I remember it like it was yesterday, but it’s already 14 years ago. I was a neo-pro and this was towards the end of my first Grand Tour. A big break went up the road in kilometre zero, with maybe 25 guys in it. Between all the attacks and climbs during the stage, it kept getting smaller, and with 30k there were just three guys up front.
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[Martin] Elmiger and I rode across and one rider got dropped. With one kilometre to go, one of the Spanish guys from Lampre [Juan Fuentes – ed.] attacked. I kind of acted like I was trying to cover the move, and then swung my arm like I was dead. Elmiger was super strong that day, and he pretty much closed the gap and then opened the sprint. It’s funny because we were teammates at IAM later and had a good laugh about it later. I was on the wheel, just waiting, waiting and I won the sprint.
I did two altitude camps before that Vuelta and I was riding very well the whole race. I remember I’d been in the front group at Hamburg the month before, with Zabel and Rebellin and all those guys, but I crashed with 10k to go. I remember being super upset in the shower afterwards, but I went up to the sport director and said, ‘I’m going to win a stage in the Vuelta.’
I think it was more a case of being cocky than actually believing it, but I did have some other good results leading up to stage 19, and I even got third on the last stage in Madrid two days afterwards. I was super young back then and racing was just fun. If a young guy says that now, the directors would say, ‘hey you’ll be lucky to even get selected for the Vuelta.’
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