Haussler happy to finish an unsatisfactory season

Heinrich Haussler had big plans for the 2010 season, and none of them came true. Instead of winning in the Flanders Classics, winning a stage at the Tour de France and wearing the homeland colours at the world championships in Melbourne, he struggled with knee problems for much of the year until he was forced to undergo surgery. But the Australian is now ready to leave the past in the past and look forward to the coming year.

“I rode my last race of the year at Paris-Bourges in France, and now I can finally put this season behind me,” he said on his personal website. “Of course this season was less than satisfactory. I could not do well in any of the planned highlights, like the Flanders Classics, the Tour de France or the World Championships – I could not even start in some of them.”

The first thing on his agenda is vacation. The 26-year-old is off to Australia next week for the first time in a year, looking forward to seeing his family again and spending time with them in Inverell. But after that, “I will have to start my preparations for the 2011 season. I am quite confident about it. I didn't have any problems with my knee in the last races of this season and I am sure that next year I will be able to go all out again.”

Haussler will be wearing a new kit in 2011, rather to his astonishment. “This step came as quite a surprise to me. But I am looking forward to next wearing the Garmin- Cervélo kit and being a part of this team. I think we will have a powerful team.”