User:Green-eyed girl/2009 Team Columbia-HTC season

2009 Team Columbia-HTC season
Manager Bob Stapleton
One-day victories 6
Stage race overall victories 1
Stage race stage victories 49
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The 2009 season for Team Columbia–HTC, the name it assumed after a midseason sponsorship deal, is ongoing. As a UCI ProTeam, they are automatically invited and obliged to send a squad to every event in the UCI ProTour, and have been invited to every event in the inaugural World Calendar as well. The team began the season with the name Team Columbia-High Road, and competed in the Giro d'Italia as well as other races prior to the Tour de France with that name, where they unveiled the new name Team Columbia-HTC. The team's general manager is Bob Stapleton, in his second year with the team.

Team Columbia-HTC is by far the team most prolific in winning individual stages in stage races, largely thanks to their noted sprinter Mark Cavendish. Cavendish has won multiple stages in six different events on the season, including six stages in the Tour de France alone. The team has also shown well at one-day races, with Cavendish winning a sprint finish to Milan-Sanremo and Edvald Boasson Hagen likewise in Gent-Wevelgem.

While they have been extremely successful in 'stage hunting', the team's only overall victory in a stage race on the season is Michael Albasini's triumph in Österreich-Rundfahrt. Michael Rogers was thought to be a contender for the overall victory or the podium in the Giro d'Italia, but he finished eighth after not improving upon the position gained after the team won the Giro's opening team time trial. The team did not have a rider place in the top ten overall of the Tour de France for the first time since 2002, when they were known as Team Telekom.

2009 team roster

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Ages as of January 1, 2009.

Rider Date of birth
  Michael Albasini (SUI) (1980-12-20)December 20, 1980 (aged 28)
  Michael Barry (CAN) (1975-12-18)December 18, 1975 (aged 33)
  Marcus Burghardt (GER) (1983-06-30)June 30, 1983 (aged 25)
  Mark Cavendish (GBR) (1985-05-21)May 21, 1985 (aged 23)
  Gert Dockx (BEL) (1988-07-04)July 4, 1988 (aged 20)
  Bernhard Eisel (AUT) (1981-02-17)February 17, 1981 (aged 27)
  Bert Grabsch (GER) (1975-06-19)June 19, 1975 (aged 33)
  André Greipel (GER) (1982-07-16)July 16, 1982 (aged 26)
  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) (1987-05-17)May 17, 1987 (aged 21)
  Adam Hansen (AUS) (1981-05-11)May 11, 1981 (aged 27)
  Greg Henderson (NZL) (1976-09-10)September 10, 1976 (aged 32)
  George Hincapie (USA) (1973-06-29)June 29, 1973 (aged 35)
  Kim Kirchen (LUX) (1978-07-03)July 3, 1978 (aged 30)
Rider Date of birth
  Craig Lewis (USA) (1985-10-01)October 1, 1985 (aged 23)
  Thomas Lövkvist (SWE) (1984-04-04) April 4, 1984 (age 40)
  Tony Martin (GER) (1985-04-23)April 23, 1985 (aged 23)
  Maxime Monfort (BEL) (1983-01-14)January 14, 1983 (aged 25)
  Marco Pinotti (ITA) (1976-02-25)February 25, 1976 (aged 32)
  Morris Possoni (ITA) (1984-07-01)July 1, 1984 (aged 24)
  František Raboň (CZE) (1983-09-26)September 26, 1983 (aged 25)
  Mark Renshaw (AUS) (1982-10-22)October 22, 1982 (aged 26)
  Vicente Reynès (ESP) (1981-07-30)July 30, 1981 (aged 27)
  Michael Rogers (AUS) (1979-12-20)December 20, 1979 (aged 29)
  Marcel Sieberg (GER) (1982-04-30)April 30, 1982 (aged 26)
  Kanstantsin Siutsou (BLR) (1982-08-09)August 9, 1982 (aged 26)

References

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  1. ^ a b "Rider transfers for 2008-2009". Cycling News. 2008-10-27. Retrieved 2009-07-07.