HTC-Columbia will field a strong mix of all-rounders and sprinters for this year's edition of Tirreno-Adriatico, which starts on Wednesday in the coastal city of Livorno, Italy.   "I'm only expecting a couple of bunch sprint finishes, the first and the last stages," comments Valerio Piva, HTC-Columbia's sports director for the seven-day Italian event.  "But with all these tough little finishing circuits in between, no time trial, and two very long, hard stages in the mountains of central Italy, Tirreno will probably see some big splits in the field, too.  The time bonuses at the finishes and in the intermediate sprints will have a larger than usual influence on the way the race develops, too."

HTC-Columbia's Michael Rogers [AUS] is expected to be contending the overall. After winning the Tour of Andalusia in Spain and placing well in the Strade Bianche event this weekend, the Australian is highly motivated for Italy's second biggest stage race.
"Michael's certainly in great shape, although it's a pity there's no time trial, which would have suited him even more", Piva comments.  "For the overall classification we've also got Michael Albasini [SWI] , too, who's always up there with the other top guys on stages with uphill finishes.  And Marco Pinotti's [ITA] always got a good chance in these sorts of races, too."

Mark Cavendish [GB] will use Tirreno-Adriatico, according to Piva, "as another important step toward Milan-San Remo.  That said, there's no way he'll be going in too deep. You don't want to burn yourself out in Tirreno-Adriatico and not have enough strength left to do well in Milan-San Remo.  But whenever there's a bunch sprint, that's always a good stage for Mark."

HTC-Columbia for Tirreno-Adriatico: Michael Albasini (Swi); Lars Bak (Den); Mark Cavendish (GB); Bernhard Eisel (Aut); Marco Pinotti (Ita); Bert Grabsch (Ger); Peter Velits (Svk); Michael Rogers (Aus).