San Luis Obispo, CA – 20th April 2010 – Judith Arndt and her HTC-Columbia teammates are preparing for an all-out assault on the next round of the womens’ World Cup, the Fleche Wallone in Belgium on Wednesday. “Judith has had a lot of near-misses in this race and it would be wonderful to hit the bullseye this time around” comments team manager Ronny Lauke.

Forced to miss last year’s race because of injuries, Arndt has finished on the podium for the previous four editions of Fleche Wallone, taking second in 2006, and third in 2008, 2007 and 2005. “Judith is only one option of several for HTC-Columbia,” Lauke says. “This is a great race for Noemi Cantele [fifth last year], and Evelyn [Stevens] has been climbing very well this season, too. They’ve made the course a bit longer and harder too, which suits our style of racing.”

Barring Evelyn Stevens and Kim Anderson, who are both already in Belgium, airport closures across Europe saw HTC-Columbia’s team all traveling to the race by car and/or train. “Judith [Arndt], came by train from Leipzig [Germany], Noemi [Cantele] and Linda [Villumsen] drove by car from Milan, Luise [Keller] got the train to Berlin from the Czech Republic and then hired a car from there,” Lauke commented. “It’s been quite tricky for them to get here, but they all made a big effort.”

“We’ve had some great wins so far this season, but not yet in a World Cup event. It would be great if that happened on Wednesday.”

HTC-Columbia women’s team for Fleche Wallone: Kim Anderson (USA); Judith Arndt (Ger); Noemi Cantele (Ita); Luise Keller (Ger); Evelyn Stevens (USA); Linda Villumsen (NZ).