Gerolsteiner's young shooting star is Heinrich Haussler, a 22-year-old Australian-German who took the biggest victory in his short career with a stage win in the Vuelta last year - the only German victory in a Grand Tour in 2005. At the start of this year, he continued his winning ways at the Vuelta a Murcia with victory in both the first and last stages, and will be wearing dossard #131 in Saturday's Milan-San Remo. Susan Westemeyer asked him about his plans this season.
Cyclingnews: Congratulations on your two stage wins in Murcia. Both were bunch sprints - are you turning into the next super sprinter? Can we expect to see you challenging Boonen and Petacchi?
Heinrich Haussler: I'm sure I will challenge them; every race is a challenge, isn't it? And I have sprint experience with Alessandro from the Vuelta last year. Right now, I'm just taking advantage of every chance I have to win a race, without really thinking about whether I'm a sprinter, Classics rider or stage-race specialist. I think that is the privilege of youth!
CN: You said that you surprised yourself, because you're not yet in your best form. What is missing? And what do you think you can accomplish when you are in top form?
HH: I have several weeks altitude training on Teneriffe behind me and the change back to normal conditions is difficult for the body. Some feel it more, some less. I feel it pretty strongly. After two wins, that sounds funny, but it's true. So I'm relatively convinced that I can do even better. I just have to stay healthy.
