Cavendish and his Columbia crew hit the roads of Lanzarote
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The Columbia-HTC squad pass a church on the Island of Lanzarote.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Mark Cavendish grabs a spot of lunch on the road.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Cavendish waits for things to get underway again.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC)(Image credit: Bob Foy)
The squad split up into smaller groups for some of the training sessions.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Cavendish cools off after a training ride.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Cavendish makes full use of the sponsor's product.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
The whole Columbia-HTC have converged on Lanzarote for their first training camp.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Mark Cavendish before a ride.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Cavendish and Eisel push up a climb.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Cavendish and Eisel lead the way on Lanzarote.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Fun in the sun: Riders can leave the arm and leg warmers at home in Lanzarote.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Mark Cavendish has joined his 27 teammates for the ten-day camp.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Mark Cavendish ponders the road to El Golfo, home to the Island's famed Green Lagoon.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
The varied terrain of Lanzarote is one of the reasons it is such a popular spot for professional teams to train.(Image credit: Bob Foy)
Columbia-HTC have launched their pre-season with a training camp on the Spanish Island of Lanzarote. The easternmost of the seven Canary Islands, the team this week made use of the mostly traffic-free roads to set a base for the season ahead.
Columbia stars Mark Cavendish, Michael Rogers, Tony Martin and Marco Pinotti have also had the chance to meet a flood of new teammates, including, among others: Lars Ytting Bak, Hayden Roulston, Patrick Gretsch, Rasmus Guldhammer, Leigh Howard, Tejay van Garderen, and brothers Peter and Martin Velits.
"It's really great to have all of the guys together for the first time," said Sports Director Rolf Aldag on the team's website. "We have eleven new riders on the roster and it's a good chance for them all to get to know each other and for the new guys to learn how we do things on this team. All of our individual meetings are going well and I have a really good feeling about 2010.
Apart from training, the Columbia riders are also taking the opportunity to get set up and fitted with their new clothing and equipment for next year.
The ten-day training camp will run until next week and gives the riders the chance to escape the winter chill that has started to shift its way across Europe. "The Island is perfect for training at any time of year," said Aldag. We can train in short sleeves and we have the support of Club La Santa and the local government here so we feel very welcome."
Click here for a gallery of images from the Columbia-HTC training camp.
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