Columbia trains on Lanzarote

Columbia-HTC is in full swing of preparing for the 2010 season. This week, the squad has convened at the Club La Santa in Lanzarote, Canary islands, Spain, for the team's first training camp with the full 2010 rider roster of 28 men. The outfit will spend ten days in planning, fittings, bike set-up, testing and training on the windy volcanic island off the Moroccan coast.

Team manager Rolf Aldag was excited about the camp, as well as about the new season prospects. "It's really great to have all of the guys together for the first time," he said. "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."

Together with the riders, Aldag enjoyed the warm weather conditions of Lanzarote. "The Island is perfect for training at any time of year," he dded. "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."

The full Columbia-HTC 2010 team roster is:

Michael Albasini (SWI), Lars Bak (DEN), Mark Cavendish (GBR), Gert Dockx (BEL), Bernhard Eisel (AUT), Jan Gheyselinck (BEL), Mathew Goss (AUS), Bert Grabsch (GER), André Greipel (GER), Patrick Gretsch (GER), Rasmus Guldhammer (DEN), Adam Hansen (AUS), Leigh Howard (AUS), Craig Lewis (USA), Tony Martin (GER), Maxime Montfort (BEL), Marco Pinotti (ITA), Frantisek Rabon (CZE), Mark Renshaw (AUS), Vicente Reynes (SPA), Michael Rogers (AUS), Hayden Roulston (NZL), Alex Saramotin (LAT), Marcel Seiberg (GER), Kanstantsin Sivtsov (BLR), Tejay Van Garderen (USA), Martin Velits (SLO), and Peter Velits (SLO).