Heinrich Haussler won the National Road Race of Australia today. And for sure he is a happy man now. Since he changed his citizenship from German to Australian in July of 2010 he hasn’t made a big result in the Nationals.

“Since 2009 I’ve had ups and downs, ups and downs, coming back, getting down, getting up, getting down”, Haussler said. “This year during the winter I really built up, came out in December to Australia to get ready for Nationals and Down Under and things just have fallen into place,” the Australian champion told Cyclingtips.com.au

“Seriously — it’s the best day of my life. I don’t know what to say. ”

“I knew I had to pace myself on the climb”, Haussler said. “If I went over the limit I’d blow completely.”

“It was a really tough sprint and the lactic acid was just coming out my ears, just like back in San Remo”, Haussler said after the race. “[I was] pretty much just trying to get every little bit of energy into my legs that I had.”

“Thank God the line came and I got there first. I couldn’t believe it.”

And Haussler isn’t going to settle with the best possible result in the Nationals, he wants to bring his form with him for the home soil race Tour Down Under.

“I want to go to Down Under now and win a stage there”, Haussler said. “Obviously that’s going to be hard but that’s a goal."

And after leaving Australia he wants to ride the Classics and he might have San Remo as a goal this year.

“Basically I just want to build ahead of the Classics. It may be one of the last years that San Remo is going to be a sprint before they put the bigger climbs into it, so definitely San Remo is the thing that’s been in the back of my mind.”