Alright, this may be controversial. It's certainly not usual to open a thread for a 36-year-old. But I'm doing it anyway.
Back in the day (2009), Heinrich Haussler was probably my favourite rider, and he had a magnificent spring, featuring prominently in all three flat monuments. In Milan-Sanremo, he was beaten to second by Cavendish in THAT sprint, in Flanders he stole a second place by going solo behind the solo winner, Stijn Devolder, and in Roubaix he was first out of the Arenberg Forest but eventually he faded to a 6th place.
Later that year, he won an epic stage win in the Tour with more than four minutes to second place (biggest winning margin of a Grand Tour stage in this century, as far as I know (edit: maybe fifth or sixth biggest)) in apocalyptic weather in the Vosges - the day Lance Armstrong mentioned as the most unpleasant in his career.
The world lay open for his feet but injuries put a damper on his level, and he never managed to return to that magical 2009 form, though he still obtained a top 10 placing more in each of his three monuments over the years.
So why open a thread now, you might ask? Well, first off, it's a calamity that he doesn't already have one, but second, what I saw in the opening weekend reminded me of the old Haussler. In Omloop he was riding very prominently, albeit not very smartly, but throughout the race he seemed to be one of the very strongest riders. In Kuurne, he had a crash, but was still riding at the pointy end when the going got tough.
It seems like he has finally managed to somehow overcome the injury freak show that has marred him throughout a decade, and he even confirmed post-Omloop that he hadn't had those legs since that almost glorious spring 11 years ago.
During this winter, he debuted as a cross rider and featured (very far from the pointy end) in a few of the biggest racers on the cross calendar. It seems like that (or whatever else) has helped him to reach a level I didn't dare hope to see from him again.
And that leads me to my question:
Could the man who never wears gloves pull a Hayman?
Back in the day (2009), Heinrich Haussler was probably my favourite rider, and he had a magnificent spring, featuring prominently in all three flat monuments. In Milan-Sanremo, he was beaten to second by Cavendish in THAT sprint, in Flanders he stole a second place by going solo behind the solo winner, Stijn Devolder, and in Roubaix he was first out of the Arenberg Forest but eventually he faded to a 6th place.
Later that year, he won an epic stage win in the Tour with more than four minutes to second place (biggest winning margin of a Grand Tour stage in this century, as far as I know (edit: maybe fifth or sixth biggest)) in apocalyptic weather in the Vosges - the day Lance Armstrong mentioned as the most unpleasant in his career.
The world lay open for his feet but injuries put a damper on his level, and he never managed to return to that magical 2009 form, though he still obtained a top 10 placing more in each of his three monuments over the years.
So why open a thread now, you might ask? Well, first off, it's a calamity that he doesn't already have one, but second, what I saw in the opening weekend reminded me of the old Haussler. In Omloop he was riding very prominently, albeit not very smartly, but throughout the race he seemed to be one of the very strongest riders. In Kuurne, he had a crash, but was still riding at the pointy end when the going got tough.
It seems like he has finally managed to somehow overcome the injury freak show that has marred him throughout a decade, and he even confirmed post-Omloop that he hadn't had those legs since that almost glorious spring 11 years ago.
During this winter, he debuted as a cross rider and featured (very far from the pointy end) in a few of the biggest racers on the cross calendar. It seems like that (or whatever else) has helped him to reach a level I didn't dare hope to see from him again.
And that leads me to my question:
Could the man who never wears gloves pull a Hayman?
Last edited: