HTC-Columbia's Marco Pinotti will be targeting the overall in the Tour of Romandie, which starts on Tuesday with a short prologue in Porrentruy, Switzerland.  Pinotti finished third overall in 2008 in the Swiss race and is confident of another great result in 2010.

"I'm building up for the Tour of Italy now, so my form is good, better than it was at this point last year," Pinotti says.  "I rode a very strong Tour of the Basque Country, and did all right in Fleche Wallone and Amstel Gold, even though I'm not a great one-day specialist.  The Tour of Romandie course suits me.  There's a very short prologue but also a very technical time trial [stage three] and some tough mountain stages that should decide the race.  Romandie is the last chance I'll have to compare my form with my rivals before the Tour of Italy, so it will be very important."

HTC-Columbia's Mark Cavendish will be racing in the Tour of Romandie before going on to the Tour of California.  "Mark will have a good chance in the sprints, and there's a really strong leadout team for him here. For the first time in 2010 he and Mark Renshaw will be racing together," comments HTC-Columbia sports director Tristan Hoffman.   "When I spoke to Mark [Cavendish] he said he was in great shape, so it's all looking very good."

HTC-Columbia for Tour of Romandie:  Mark Cavendish (GB); Bernhard Eisel (Aut); Adam Hansen (Aus); Frantisek Rabon (Cze); Mark Renshaw (Aus); Michael Rogers (Aus); Hayden Roulston (NZ).