Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervélo) scored his first win since the Tour of Qatar in February when he sprinted to victory on stage two of the Tour of Beijing. He had just enough in hand to pip Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha) at the line, but Haussler admitted afterwards that he thought he had been edged out by the Russian fastman.
“The guy from Katusha came from behind and after the race I actually went straight to the car because I thought he’d won, so it was nice to get the win,” Haussler explained.
In what he described as a “hectic, crazy” sprint, Haussler managed to pick his way to the front after being chaperoned through the bunch by teammates David Millar and Johan Van Summeren. When Davide Appollonio (Sky) launched his sprint early, Haussler gratefully took the wheel of the Italian youngster.
“Appollonio from Sky went with maybe 300 metres to go, and that was heaps too early with a headwind like that, but I was like, ‘ok, just take me to the line,’” Haussler said.
The Australian is enjoying a fine run of late season form, as he reaps the benefits of riding the Vuelta a España, his first grand tour in over two years.
“Even at the Worlds, I was feeling really strong and did a good lead-out for Gossy [Matt Goss] and I think that gave me a good boost and I knew that I was in good form. I pretty much came here with good intentions to try and go for a stage win.”
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