Tour Down Under

16-01-2009 23:17:10

For the second year running, Team Columbia-Highroad will be going all out for maximum honours in the Tour Down Under.

In 2008, Columbia-Highroad’s Andre Greipel powered his way through the sprints to gain the overall victory -  as well as four stage wins out of a possible six and the Tour Down Under Classic criterium.

But far from being satisfied with such a great run of success, this year, the German sprint champion is hungry for more wins in the first ProTour race of the season -  and in great shape as well.

“Andre’s got great condition and is extremely motivated,” reports team sports director Allan Peiper. “He’s been out by himself doing a lot of practicing for sprint finishes and sharpening his top-end speed. On top of that, he’s got an amazing lead-out train here. In fact, it’s so good  that Mick [Michael Rogers], who’s won the World Time Trial Championships three times and just won the Australia’s nationals, will probably be the first man to up the speed in the finales. After Michael brings up the pace, we’ll have the whole squad working for Andre, probably with [new signing] Mark [Renshaw] as his lead-out man.”

Team Columbia-Highroad has two TDU winners in their line-up for Australia’s premier race, Greipel and Michael Rogers, who took the event back in 2002.

“Mick knows the course really well, he knows where it can be won and lost and will be watching the breaks. There’s no way he’s going to let guys just ride away. It’s true the route overall is a little tougher, with a seven kilometre climb early on stage two. That makes it a little better for all-rounders and sprinters who are good in the hills.”

“But Andre got over the hardest climbs of the course last year and we’re truly confident in him and in our team. We won more races than any other team in 2008 and it all started here in Australia. It’s impossible not to be motivated for this race.”

Columbia-Highroad for Tour Down Under: Andre Greipel (Germany); Mark Renshaw (Australia); Greg Henderson (New Zealand); Bernhard Eisel (Austria); George Hincapie (USA); Michael Rogers (Australia); Adam Hansen (Australia).