Columbia-Highroad’s Greg Henderson will be gunning for success in the sprint finishes in the Volta a Catalunya in Spain, which starts on Monday and finishes the following Sunday.

“There are three days in the mountains but after that, there are three stages which could be bunch sprints,” Henderson comments. “The last stage finishes on a Formula One circuit, which should be spectacular. I’ll give it full blast in the opening prologue [on Monday], not because I’m expecting a great result but a prologue’s always good to get your legs going. Then it’ll be survival mode in the mountains, before going for it on the last three days.”

“My condition’s good for this time of year. Like a lot of the guys who did the cobbled Classics, the Four Days of Dunkirk [in France last week] and Catalunya are my first races back and this is where it all starts again for the second part of the season.”

Spain has certainly been good to Henderson this year. Both his wins this season, in the Clasica Almeria and a stage in the Tour of Murcia, have been in that country. The New Zealander also knows Catalunya well, being based in Girona during the season, although he’s never done the Volta a Catalunya before.

Other Columbia-Highroad riders taking part in the Spanish race include American climber Craig Lewis, also based in Girona, and the recent winner of the Tour of Romandie’s prologue, Frantisek Rabon. Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg, badly injured in the Tour of California, is also taking part.

“I will be curious to see how Kim’s recovery is going, and the Volta a Catalunya will tell us a lot about that,” says sports director Brian Holm. “I also know that Adam [Hansen] is back in good shape after his great  riding in the Four Days of Dunkirk. And after Rabon’s good performance in Romandie, we can’t rule him out for the opening prologue, either. It’s all looking very interesting.”