Heinrich Haussler won't get the chance to improve on his 2nd place from the 2009 Tour of Flanders. The Australian suffers from gastroenteritis and will be replaced by Kevyn Ista on the IAM roster for the 2014 edition of the Belgian classic.

When IAM Cycling announced the signing of Sylvain Chavanel, they were looking forward to presenting a dangerous two-pronged attack in the cobbled classics. The Frenchman was set to join forces with Heinrich Haussler to form a strong duo that could excel in most race scenarios.

Unfortunately, the team won't get the chance to put their pair on show in tomorrow's Tour of Flanders. Suffering from gastro-enteritis, Haussler had been forced to forfeit his participation on the IAM roster, giving his spot to Kevyn Ista.

The withdrawal is just the most recent example of the bad luck that has plagued Haussler in recent years. Having suffered from man injuries, he has been unable to reach the excellent form that allowed him to finish 2nd in the 2009 Milan-Sanremo and Tour of Flanders.

He had a bad crash at last year's Tour de Suisse but managed to return to some solid form at the end of the year. He was hopeful that it would set him up for a solid classics performance in 2014 but until now he has been a rather anonymous presence.

Now he misses one of his big goals entirely but there is still hope that he will recover in time for Paris-Roubaix in a week.