13-Jun-2010: Heinrich Haussler (GER) won stage two at the Tour de Suisse with a superbly timed sprint late in the finish in Sierre. While many of the big name sprinters were dropped in the last climb, Haussler found the best line through a hectic sprint with a late acceleration. Pablo Urtasun (ESP Euskaltel-Euskadi) took second with Marco Mercato (ITA-Vacansoleil) third. It was the first win of 2010 for Haussler who has been plagued by knee problems so far this season.

Haussler in response to a reporter’s question: “I definitely feel good about this win. I had been in training and then in the Tour of California but I had to pull out because I still had problems with my knee. So I’ve been training and I’m getting ready for the Tour now. For me the season really starts here. This definitely gives me confidence for the tour, my form is good now.”

“I don’t know it was really hard. The last hill no one expected it to be that hard. There were a lot of attacks on the hill with the hill climbers always attacking,” explained Heinrich Haussler, after winning today’s stage. “We were riding 30-40 guys and then a small bunch got back together ready to go but I looked around and I was the only one there so I went even harder because I didn’t have anyone to help me. But I knew I was going uphill for the last 200 metres and there was some head wind so I waited and waited for the right moment – yeah it was a nice win.”

Asked whether he will use this as preparation for the Tour de France. “Well there are a lot of stages after this that will be really hard so we’ll just have to see. I don’t want to really go too deep here but if I have the chance for another one or two stages then we’ll definitely give it a go.”