San Luis Obispo, CA -21st March 2010 – HTC-Columbia heads to the Tour of Catalunya in Spain on Monday, aiming to impact the sprint stages and the overall in the seven-day race. “We’re not one of the top favorites here, but it’s a hilly race this year and the climbers we’ve brought are in very good shape,” comments team sports director Brian Holm.

“Craig [Lewis] was going well recently, even though he did crash on the last day in Paris-Nice, and Kosta [Kanstantsin Sivtsov] has good form as well as a great track record in these sorts of week-long races. I’ve been pleasantly surprised, too, with how well Tejay’s [Tejay Van Garderen] been going recently, considering it’s his first season.”

Holm is equally convinced that Mark Cavendish is in great shape for the bunch sprints in the Spanish race. “There are two stages, perhaps three, that are definitely good for him. He had a lot of bad luck with crashes and the team spent a lot of time chasing and chasing, and that cost him a lot of energy. But he’s at a good level.”

HTC-Columbia for Tour of Catalunya: Mark Cavendish (GB); Craig Lewis (USA); Tony Martin (Ger); Alex Saramotins (Lat); Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Byl); Tejay Van Garderen (USA); Martin Velits (Svk).