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DAILY RACE COVERAGE: ARMSTRONG PERSEVERES, PUNCHES FLY AMONG THE PELOTON, HAUSSLER CHOOSES GREEN AND GOLD
Road Bike Action and AFP
July 7, 2010
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Heinrich Haussler at the Tour of Qatar. (Photo Yuzuru Sunada)
Haussler Chooses Australia
Cervelo TestTeam rider Heinrich Haussler announced on Wednesday that he had relinquished his German citizenship in order
to wear Australia's green and gold in the world road race championships, which this year will be held in Australia.
The 26-year-old grew up with dual citizenship in Australia as the son of an Australian mother and a German father. He moved to Germany at the age of 14 and has been riding with a German license.
"It was not an easy decision to give up my German citizenship but I came to a point in my life where I decided to follow my feelings," he said.
"I had the lucky situation that I was the owner of two passports but I feel more Australian and, therefore, I made the final decision to ride in the future for the country where I grew up.
Haussler, who intends to remain based in the German city of Freiburg, is not competing in the Tour de France after a crash with Mark Cavendish in the Tour of Switzerland last month caused an injured knee to flare up, ruling him out.
Armstrong Cool under Pressure of Tour and Allegations
Alberto Contador has thus far provided far less consternation to Lance Armstrong than the pave and ill-meaning hecklers at the Tour de France. Armstrong ducked into the RadioShack team bus moments after an unidentified heckler began shouting "cheat" and "dopehead" at the Seven-time Tour Champion.
Armstrong, who has never failed a doping test, confronted a heckler who yelled similar insults during the Tour of Luxembourg in June. Days later during the Tour of California, Floyd Landis, former Postal teammate to Armstrong publicly accused Armstrong and other team members of systematic doping in past Tours de France. And on the first day of the 2010 Tour, the Wall Street Journal ran a scandalous story titled "Blood Brothers" in which Landis described in detail how the cyclists doped.
Armstrong lost precious time to his yellow jersey rivals on the cobblestones of stage three on Tuesday, suffering a flat tire. In spite of the allegations and bad luck on the pave, Armstrong has shown his classic focus and determination. Today, Armstrong enjoyed a drama free day on the bike. "I didn't want to have a third day in a row of bad luck, so ... (it's) nice that everybody stayed up (on their bikes)," said Armstrong, who sits in 18th place overall at 2min 30sec behind race leader Fabian Cancellara and 1:51 behind the best-placed favorite, Australian Cadel Evans.
"I think now you just got to pick up a few guys and focus on them... it's easy to look at the GC (general classification) and say 'gosh, there's 17 guys ahead of you'.
"But for the most part the vast majority of them won't be there (at the end)."
  Tough guys Robbie Hunter (l) and Jakob Fuglsang. (Photos: Yuzuru Sunada)
Tour de France Boxing Match: Hunter v. Fuglsang
L'Equipe newspaper reported Wednesday morning that Robbie Hunter was seen punching Jakob Fuglsang, a race debutant who rides for Bjarne Riis's Saxo Bank team, on one of the seven cobblestone sectors on the chaotic third stage.
The report said Hunter "has been known for his temperamental attitude on the bike for years... when is this kind of behavior going to be punished?"
Garmin-Transitions sprinter Hunter admitted he punched the Dane, but was quick to present his side of the story. Hunter said he was the victim of underhand tactics on the part of Fuglsang, who allegedly lashed out as Hunter tried to bring teammates on his wheel to the front of the race.
An exasperated Hunter told AFP before the start of the fourth stage: "We were riding to the front, with my guys on the wheel.
"We came to a right hand bend, I was coming into one of the cobbled sections and Mister Fuglsang decided he didn't enjoy us coming past and hit me on the ribs, with his fist.
"So that's when I turned around and hit him on the back, and that's what
happened."
It was a classic bike racing tactic by Saxo Bank on the tight cobbled roads of northern France which are notoriously unforgiving and provide little space for overtaking.
But Hunter said if Saxo Bank are prepared to get physical in their quest for success, everyone might as well pack up and go home.
"What I don't get is: just because they're riding on the front doesn't give anybody the right to think that they can just stay on the front," he added.
"It's a cobbled section, it's a race. If that's their attitude then let's just take the yellow jersey, go straight to Paris and the race is over.
"We're all here to race. Just because they're on the front trying to get on the cobbles first doesn't mean we can't try either. That's the way it is.
"And, he's got no right to put his hands on me."
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