Sunshine and calmness preside over the second rest day at the Giro d’Italia.  Reduced to seven riders after Stef Clement was forced to abandon, IAM Cycling has spent the day preparing as well as possible for the final push to the end of the race.  With stages passing through the Dolomites and the Alps before finally arriving in Milan, the riders will have to harness their energy resources in spite of the fact that they have already been quite worn down by more than two weeks of intense racing.  Therefore, Monday’s training ride varied according to the desires and ambitions of each individual member of the team.

Heinrich Haussler, proudly wearing the national champion’s jersey for Australia, went out for a two hour ride before talking about his goals for the coming week. 

“I chose to ride two hours because we are on the eve of what will probably be the hardest stage of these three weeks.  Having to do the Tonale, the Mortirolo and then two ascents of the Aprica, tomorrow will be very challenging with a ton to get through.  So if I only did a small ride or no ride at all, there is no way my body would support the kind of workload that we’ll have to do Tuesday if I want to have any hope of making it within the time delay. 

"Looking at the upcoming stages, there aren’t too many opportunities for riders like me to show ourselves.  The sprinters and the punchers are already thinking about that last sprint in Milan.  And then after that, I am looking forward to taking a little break and helping my partner take care of our twins.”

As with the vast majority of the Swiss team’s riders at the Giro, Heinrich Haussler is doing his first Giro, and unfortunately did not find an opportunity in the first two weeks to go for a stage win. 

“I arrived at the Giro without knowing what to expect.  I wanted to show the jersey, but didn’t expect the race to be at such a high level.  We are truly full-gas all day and on every stage.  This is my first Giro, but I can tell you that it is much harder than the Tour de France. 

"It’s true that the first week was defined by the struggle for supremacy between Astana and Tinkoff-Saxo, and we just didn’t get the chance to have a say.  And then nearly all of the team was caught in a crash on the first road stage, so that made it even harder to recover given the high speed imposed by the lead teams.  To make matters worse, I got a little sick during the first rest day, and again had to battle in order to finish the stages within the time limit. 

"Now I am back at a good level, but that’s not enough when looking at the severe percentages we will face on the Mortirolo and the Finestre, not to mention all the other climbs which I don’t know the names, but will still have to tackle.  But still, the season is long and even if I will not be at the Tour de France, I intend to show myself well in other events.”