Nickamed the “Racing Kangaroo,” Haussler’s father is German and his mother Australian. He was raised Down Under, but moved to Germany as a junior once he decided to give it a shot to race his bike professionally. He turned pro young with Gerolsteiner in 2005 and quickly won a stage in that year’s Vuelta a España. Since then, he’s collected a handful of wins each season as he slowly developed his sprint.
We meet up with Haussler at the team presentation in Portugal.
What do you think about your new team?
I really like the team, it makes a big difference from making a change. We have Sastre and some climbers for the grand tours, guys for the classics, guys for the sprints. There are some guys to leadout for the sprinters, it’s perfect.
You look faster this year, what has changed?
I’m training different this year. Years before I was training really long and slow. I never had top form, I always seemed to have 80-90 percent form during the entire year. Now, I am more focused on specific races and training towards them.
Will you be one of the protected sprinters?
If I am racing and Thor Hushovd is there, it’s going to be to help him, no doubt about it. He’s a big sprinter. He proves it all the time. I have no problem riding for Thor and I know I can learn a lot from him.
What is your main schedule of the season?
The last years I was always doing different things, trying to go well in the classics, the sprints and the grand tours. Right now, I am not worrying about the Tour so much. If I go, great, but right now I am more focusing on the one-day races and do as well as I can. I have to build myself up in the next few years, so maybe in a few years more down the road I can try to win a Flanders or Roubaix. That’s the long-term goal. I’m not there yet, but I have a few more years to gain experience. There are a lot guys here I can really learn from, like Roger (Hammond), Andreas (Klier), they’re
guys who’ve done these races. They know what it takes.
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