Stacked High Road squad ambitious with Giro plans

Team High Road is sending a strong team to the Giro d'Italia including Marco Pinotti, who wore the maglia rosa at the 2007 edition of the race, promising young Italian climber Morris Possoni and recent Tour de Georgia winner, former U23 World Champion Kanstantin Sivtsov, Australian time trial champion Adam Hansen, top sprinter Mark Cavendish and world pursuit and Madison champion Bradley Wiggins. The latter will be a favorite for the prologue.

"Racing well in the Giro d'Italia is a primary goal for Team High Road," said Bob Stapleton. "We're sending a very strong line up to a race with great tradition and a bright future. It’s also a personal favourite for our riders and management alike."

"The chance to wear the pink jersey again is hugely important for me," said Marco Pinotti. "My race condition is much better than this time last year. I'm going well and the team is in great shape. It will be harder for me to get the pink jersey due to the fact that I'll be watched more, but my self-confidence is a lot higher, too. And that goes for the whole team."

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The team's ambitious objectives include repeating Marco Pinotti's spell in the leader's jersey, stage wins by Mark Cavendish, a win in the opening team time trial and an attempt on the general classification with Tour of Georgia winner Kanstantin Sivtzov.

"Marco's Giro lead was a really important personal achievement last year," said lead Team Director for the Giro Valerio Piva. "Last year he proved he could stay with the strongest riders in the mountains and rode consistently well throughout. He'll want to do the same again in 2008. High Road also puts a huge emphasis on working with our young, up-and-coming riders and Kanstantin is one of them."

"At Georgia he surprised a lot of people, but not us on the team. We knew how hard he'd been training this spring; we could see how lean he was - and how good his form was. At Georgia it all finally came together. Who knows what could happen at the Giro?"

High Road for the Giro d'Italia: Marco Pinotti, Morris Possoni, Kanstantin Sivtsov, Frantisek Rabon, Adam Hansen, Tony Martin, Andre Greipel, Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish who is looking forward to proving himself in a Grand Tour.