Haussler wins Bayern Rundfahrt opener

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In the cold and rain of Bavaria, Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling) ended his year-long drought to claim stage one of the Bayern Rundfahrt ahead of Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and countryman Steele von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp) in Freilassing.

"He needed that," Marcello Albasini, IAM Cycling' directeur sportif said of Haussler's win on the 201.6 stage.

"This is may be fate because I won my last race on the final stage of the Tour of Bavaria in 2013, in Nuremberg on May 26," Haussler said after his win.

"It's a relief to win because I had to ask myself many questions during the time in between these two victories. After I fractured my hip during the Tour of Switzerland last season, I worked hard to get back to my pre-crash level before the end of the season. But I was never able to secure a victory, and then after the winter break I never found the same opportunity."

Haussler's spring Classics campaign was derailed by illness but the 30-year-old has regained his health and fitness after a stint at altitude in Engadine in the Swiss Alps. Despite his team's make up of climbers for the race, Haussler proved again that atrocious weather doesn't hamper his enthusiasm for racing.

"I was motivated because I have worked so hard to get back to my best. The weather was rotten and we had to fight against the wind, rain and cold," Haussler said after claiming career win number 15.

Coming into the finale, Roger Kluge was tasked with dropping off Haussler for the sprint and to cap off the day, he also finished fifth on the stage.
"On the last lap of the circuit, I thought there was a good shot to go for the win. I had avoided all the crashes and dangers. Everyone was riding full-out, and we managed to position ourselves well. In the last kilometre, Roger [Kluge] moved forward and placed me in a perfect position.

"It was truly a magnificent piece of work, and I then managed to finish it off well."

How it unfolded
Despite a hilly profile, the final third of the stage was relatively flat and a bunch sprint finish was the expected outcome after the break had gone and then been caught in the closing kilometres.

The breakaway was formed after 15km with Jan-Niklas Droste (Heizomat), Julian Kern (Ag2r) and Domenic Weinstein (Rad-Net Rose) making the move. The trio's lead swelled to 6:10 minutes after 40km before MTN-Qhubeka started the chase.

The Pro-Conti team brought the gap to around three minutes after Team Sky and NetApp-Endura offered help. As the peloton reached the second KOM of the day, FDJ and Katusha took over the pace-setting setting duties which saw the gap fall to just one minute. Kern secured the first mountains jersey but break was doomed to be brought back.

With 2km left, the race was all together again as the sprint trains organised themselves. IAM Cycling with the efforts of Kluge positioned themselves perfectly and Haussler finished off the job to snare the win and the race lead

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