San Luis Obispo, CA – HTC-Columbia is set for a strong performance in the final races of the 2010 road season, the Giro del Piemonte and Tour of Lombardy one-day Classics in Italy. “Initally we expect Adam [Hansen] and Aleksejs [Saramotins] to be in on the moves,” comments HTC-Columbia’s sports director for the two races, Valerio Piva.

“Aleksejs proved he was in great shape when he got in a good breakaway in Paris-Tours, and Adam’s very talented on the sort of uphill finish you get in Piemonte. He showed that when he won a stage with a short final climb like that in the Ster ElektroToer. Normally Peter (Velits) would be really good in Piemonte, too, particularly after his great performance at the Vuelta. He does well in small group sprints. We’ll see what happens in Piemonte and then base our strategy for Lombardy around that.”

“It’s the end of the season, but we’ve had a remarkable season and the riders are motivated all the way to the last race of the year.”

HTC-Columbia For Giro Del Piamonte (Oct 12th) and Tour of Lombardy (Oct 14th):
Michael Albasini (Swi);
Adam Hansen (Aus);
Maxime Monfort (Bel);
Marco Pinotti (Ita);
Aleksej Saramotins (Lat);
Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Byl);
Martin Velits (Svk);
Peter Velits (Svk).