HTC-Columbia will send a strong and diverse group of international riders to the 2010 Vuelta a Espana which starts on Saturday in Seville.  The HTC-Columbia squad includes sprinter Mark Cavendish, climbers Kanstantsin Sivtsov and Peter Velits, and overall contender and ten-time US national champion Tejay Van Garderen.  

"Our first goal is to get an early stage win with Mark, and then we will see how it goes from there," comments HTC-Columbia sports director Tristan Hoffman.  "He's in really good shape and very focussed, to the point that he didn't do any criteriums after the Tour de France.  He's going to the Vuelta for the first time and he's taking it very seriously.  He knows there's a lot of climbing but he did really well in the mountains in the Tour de France and he will be looking to race as strongly in September as he did in July."

HTC-Columbia aim to make their presence felt on the mountain stages, with Kanstantsin Sivtsov and Peter Velits as their main contenders.  "Kanstantsin and Peter will pick a good day on the climbs and we'll try and take as many wins as possible there too.  Tejay [Van Garderen] is also keen to see what he can do in his first major Tour, although he's young and there'll be no pressure on him.  So we've got lots of options, and we'll be giving it 100 percent."

HTC-Columbia for Vuelta a Espana: Lars Bak (Den); Mark Cavendish (GB); Bernhard Eisel (Aut), Matt Goss (Aus), Hayden Roulston (NZ), Konstantsin Sivtsov (Byl), Tejay Van Garderen (USA); Martin Velits (Svk), Peter Velits (Svk).