Heinrich Haussler – “This is what you do cycling for...”

“It really means something to me, that’s why my emotions were going a bit crazy at the finish. I only live about 40 kilometers away from Colmar and I know this area well. This is the kind of weather I love racing in too. I’ve done some of my best races in the rain so I thought it was really important for me to be in the break today. I saw the weather forecast and I thought it would be good for me.
“At the beginning I was pretty concerned because there were some good climbers there like [Juan Manuel] Garate, Sylvain Chavanel and Jens Voigt… but the group just wasn’t working properly. We only had a maximum of 45 seconds on the peloton so I attacked two or three times to try and split it up and it made things a bit easier when we got away.
“It was just so cold on top – it really was freezing – and that takes so much energy. I knew that, as the day went on, I’d stay the same and the others would get weaker. That was the key to the success today. This is my type of weather and I love it.
“After the Classics I had three or four weeks off the bike. I didn’t really know how I was going; if it was just luck at the start of the year… but then I came back and earned a few second places and a win and now to achieve a victory in the Tour de France is really amazing. This is one of the happiest days I’ve ever had in my life.
“I thought Sylvain Chavanel was playing games with me because he wasn’t coming through and doing his turns properly but obviously he just didn’t have any energy left so I risked everything on the descents because the peloton was closing in so I attacked with 50km to go. Then I just went full-gas all the way to the finish.
“I didn’t exactly chose this stage as one for me before the Tour but it’s special. On the last hill it was absolutely amazing, I was getting goosebumps all over me and this is what you do cycling for: to get these feelings and these emotions.”