HTC-Columbia has signed valuable US rider Danny Pate for 2011. Pate’s successful career to date includes a U23 World Title, an overall win at Tour de Toona, stage wins at Tour of Missouri, Tour de Beauce and of course team time trial wins at the Giro d’Italia and Tour de Georgia.

“We are happy to welcome Danny to the team,” said HTC-Columbia Team Manager Rolf Aldag. “We have followed him for some time and we really like the way he races. We believe he still has a lot of development in him. He has been U23 TT world champion, which means that he should be absolutely be competitive with the right support.”

“I had a great time with Garmin-Transitions in 2008 and 2009,” said Pate, “but in the middle of this season I realized things had changed and I needed a change. So when the chance came to sign with HTC Columbia, I had no doubts that that’s where I wanted to be. I have experience, but I also know I can still improve. I am really looking forward to this new episode in my career.”