His last sprint saw him meet the pavement at the Tour de Suisse, and was the subject of great controversy. Race judges ruled Cavendish caused the massive stage four pile-up by deviating from his line. Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo TestTeam) looked set to win the stage before his contact with the Manx Missile exploded the front end of the peloton.
"Selecting the team was very hard for us again this year," said Team Manager Rolf Aldag. "It was hard enough selecting a long list of 15, but to bring it down to only nine riders involved some very difficult decisions. In the end we have to leave at home several riders who also deserve a chance to ride the Tour."
"Our decisions were based on two goals," explained Aldag. "First, we wanted a strong team to support Mark Cavendish and winning the Green jersey. To win, we need to concentrate all points with one sprinter. As a result we have not included André Greipel in the roster. Mark won six stages of the Tour de France last year and we have faith that he will be highly successful in the 2010 Tour.
"Renshaw, Eisel, Grabsch and Hansen will be the main support for the sprint stages with of course the other riders also playing a part in the lead out train as well.
"Second, we wanted to field a team who can focus on the overall. Rogers has had the best season of his career to date and is very focused on contending in the general classification. Tony Martin comes off a very successful Tour de Suisse where he held the yellow jersey for the first part of the race and won the closing time trial, making him the only person to beat Fabian Cancellara in a time trial besides [Alberto] Contador in three years.
"They will be supported by Maxime Monfort, who showed excellent form at Tour de Suisse, Adam Hansen, who won the Ster Elektro stage race last weekend and Kanstantsin Sivtsov who is a tireless worker on both flat and mountainous terrain."
Aiming for two jerseys at the Tour de France is a tall order for any team. Iterestingly enough, HTC-Columbia is the successor to the last team that was able to accomplish that feat. In 1997 the then German Telekom team led Jan Ulrich to his only Tour de France crown, while also working to help Erik Zabel secure his second of six green jersey titles. Zabel is working with Cavendish, who is still looking for his first green jersey title.
Team HTC-Columbia roster for the 2010 Tour de France:
Mark Cavendish, Bernhard Eisel, Bert Grabsch, Adam Hansen, Tony Martin, Maxime Monfort, Mark Renshaw, Michael Rogers and Kanstantsin Sivtsov
Mark Cavendish, Bernhard Eisel, Bert Grabsch, Adam Hansen, Tony Martin, Maxime Monfort, Mark Renshaw, Michael Rogers and Kanstantsin Sivtsov
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