Aussie ice man Heinrich Haussler to freeze out his rivals

HE'S the forgotten man of Aussie cycling, but Heinrich Haussler hasn't given up on a career that once hinted at greatness.

Heinrich Haussler

IT HAS been a freezing start to cycling's epic European Classics.

Rain, sleet and snow that burns straight through layers of clothing and into the riders' bones.

At Gent-Wevelgem in Belgium on Sunday, the temperature didn't top 2C and an icy wind lashed the peloton's faces all day.

The week before in Milan-San Remo, conditions were so bad that riders fighting hypothermia were herded into buses and shuttled over parts of the course deemed too dangerous to ride.

Miserable conditions for any rider - least of all an Australian - yet that's exactly how Heinrich Haussler wants it.

While most riders start shutting down one painful pedal stroke at a time in that weather, Haussler's engine starts warming up.

"I don't necessarily like it. Before the race I don't look outside the bus and think `oh f-- yeah it's raining, it's freezing, I'm up'," said Haussler, who was fourth in Gent-Wevelgem last weekend.

"But a lot of riders, they seem to block up. Their legs and body just doesn't function when it's underneath three or four degrees.

"But since I've been pro, my best results have always been in the really bad weather."

Cue his 2009 Tour de France stage win when Haussler rode solo in the pouring rain into Colmar, hands cupped over his mouth and tears streaming down his face.

That was supposed to be the start of something special.

Instead, Haussler has been searching for that winning feeling ever since, plagued by injuries, crashes and low motivation.

Desperate to return to his best, the 29-year-old skipped the Australian summer in his home town of Inverell in NSW in favour of cross-country skiing at St Moritz in Switzerland.

"This year I especially stayed in Europe to train because being in the cold makes you a little bit harder, your immune system is stronger," he said.

"I was in St Moritz for five weeks in November-December cross-country skiing and the temperature got up to -15, -20 and I was still doing three to six hours' training each day.

"No bike riding, just cross-country skiing, which is actually a lot harder than cycling.

"It uses the same muscle groups for the legs but you're also doing a lot more for your core and upper body, which is perfect for the Classics, and it's also at altitude."

It was a completely different pre-season to previous years when he'd be training and travelling.

"I need to be left alone in the winter to do my old-school East German training like where I grew up - really long, slow, no big efforts," said Haussler, who in 2009 renounced his German citizenship to wear the green and gold.

"Then slowly it builds up so I've got a serious base and come January-February when racing starts I've got something to work on."

Haussler also changed teams in the off-season, leaving WorldTour squad Garmin-Sharp for new Swiss outfit IAM Cycling, which has second-tier Pro Continental status.

Haussler could have joined another WorldTour team, and to some his decision to join IAM Cycling would have appeared a step backwards.

But desperate for a change and seeking more responsibility and opportunities, it was exactly what Haussler needed.

"It's not about money. It's like any other job - if you're not happy, then you're not going to go to work and give 100 per cent, and that's the way it was the last two years," he told The Advertiser this week.

"When I didn't get picked for the (2012) Olympics or Tour (de France), I wasn't ready to throw it all in, but there were two weeks where I threw the bike in the corner, stayed home and didn't go outside.

"I was miserable because it's like getting hit in the face.

"After 2009 having such big success, by 2010 things went wrong - the knee problems started, I had a crash, missed out on the Classics, another big crash, knee operation.

"And 2011 and 2012, I wasn't really happy in the team. I was always chasing, chasing, chasing, trying to get back to that level.

"It's very difficult mentally and a lot of people probably don't understand how an injury like that takes a long time (to recover)."

So far, the move has paid dividends. Haussler's team has been invited to all major Classics and he has had top-10s at the Tour of Oman and Paris-Nice, followed by 13th in Milan-San, 11th in E3 Harelbeke Remo and fourth at Gent-Wevelgem.

But most importantly going into tomorrow's Tour of Flanders and next week's Paris-Roubaix, Haussler is happy.

"When you've got the form and can be in the front positioning yourself before the hills in the Classics, and you've actually got the legs to attack, that's what it's all about," he said.

"It will take a while for the team to jell, to work like Sky or Quickstep in the Classics.

"But it's going good, the guys are strong.

"We're getting better and that's something I'm trying to teach the boys so next year there's no excuses, we've already had the year working together and hopefully we can get a good win."

On Thursday, Haussler and his team-mates reacquainted themselves with the final 160km of the Tour of Flanders course.

Perhaps more crucially, Haussler is keeping one eye on the weather forecast, with the predicted maximum temperature just 6C.

"It's all about positioning yourself going into the small roads, right, left, cobbles coming up," he said.

"Then we'll look at the weather to see if it's going to be raining and how cold it's going to be."

For Haussler, the colder the better.