San Luis Obispo, CA – 14th April 2010 -HTC-Columbia’s lineup for the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday is designed to give the team as many options as possible in Holland’s leading one-day Classic and ProTour race.

“Marco [Pinotti] and Maxime [Monfort] both did really well in the second half of the Basque Country,” comments HTC-Columbia sports director Tristan Hoffman. “On top of that we’ve got the Velits brothers, Martin and Peter, who are in good shape, as well as Michael Albasini, our best finisher in Amstel last year just behind the lead break.

“It would be wrong to say HTC-Columbia have got a big single favourite for Amstel, but in a race as tricky and unpredictable as this one, sometimes it’s not clever to base all your options on one rider.”

Last year, HTC-Columbia’s riders went on the attack before the best-known favourites made their moves, and the strategy came close to succeeding.

“We tried to get in a breakaway that would anticipate the final attacks and make the biggest names react and play the game our way, and it almost worked,” Hoffman recalls. “I’ll expect our riders to be equally flexible in their approach on Sunday.”

Although there are 31 climbs in total in Amstel Gold, Hoffman says “The real action starts on the Eyserbosweg climb when we go over it the second time, less than 30 kilometres from the finish. After that, you can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

HTC-Columbia for Amstel Gold Race:- Michael Albasini (Swi); Craig Lewis (USA); Tony Martin (Ger); Maxime Monfort (Bel); Marco Pinotti (Ita); Vicente Reynes (Spa); Martin Velits (Svk); Peter Velits (Svk).

For more information on Team HTC-Columbia, please visit www.highroadsports.com

Team Contact:
Kristy Scrymgeour Ellen Cohune
kscrymgeour@highroadsports.com ecohune@highroadsports.com
+1 805 280 5971 +1 805 215 4707
+49 170 286 7736