STAGE 21

Columbia-HTC's Andre Greipel celebrated his victory in the points jersey competition in the Tour of Spain with a bunch sprint win in the final stage into Madrid.

The German powered across the final finish line for his fouth stage win in the Vuelta, his first points jersey in a Grand Tour and his nineteenth victory of the 2009 season.
"The green jersey was very difficult to get because this was such a mountainous Vuelta, but in the build-up to the sprints I could count on a lot of support from my teammates, and that made all the difference," Greipel said afterwards. "I had the best lead-out of all of the sprinters here, particularly thanks to my [Columbia-HTC] teammates Marcel Sieberg and Greg Henderson.  I came to this Tour of Spain thinking I could maybe win one stage, and I came away with four and the team got five. Plus I won the points classification. That's amazing."

Talking about his final win in Madrid, Greipel said  "With two kilometres to go I was a bit far back, but [teammate] Greg Henderson did a brilliant job taking me through to the front end of the bunch.  It was a bit uphill so I waited a little longer than usual for accelerating away for the finish.  Everybody in the team helped.  I was just the lucky one who got to cross the line in first place."

With six stage wins in the Giro d'Italia and another six in the Tour de France, today's win is Columbia-HTC's seventeenth victory in a Grand Tour this season. Greipel's latest triumph brings the squad's 2009 total of wins to 84, just one fewer than their recordbreaking total of 85 in 2008.

STAGE 16

GREIPEL TAKES COLUMBIA-HTC'S 80TH SEASON WIN

Germany's André Greipel racked up his third stage win in the 2009 Vuelta a Espana on Tuesday, a victory which simultaneously moved the Columbia-HTC rider back into the lead of the race's points classification and clocked Columbia-HTC's 80th season win.

On stage 16 from Cordoba to Puertollano, Greipel blasted across the line ahead of France's William Bonnet and Italian Daniele Bennati for Columbia-HTC's fourth stage victory in the Tour of Spain.

"It's a very important win for me, I very much wanted to get the victory today for a lot of reasons," Greipel said afterwards.

"It was a tricky finish with a lot of corners, but my team-mates kept me in front and I managed to stay out of trouble. We were lucky that only one rider was in the break and that made it a lot easier for us to control the race during the stage."

Discussing his chances of keeping the green points jersey to Madrid, Greipel said "there are two stages that should finish in a bunch sprint and two that are going that are very mountainous, so it's going to be difficult. We'll see in Madrid."

The German crossed the finish line pointing repeatedly at the sky and explained afterwards that "I lost my best friend three years ago on this exact day, and also my grandfather died on this day, too."

The German's 18th victory of the season is also the 80th of the season for Columbia-HTC men's team, who also won a stage on Tuesday in the Tour of Britain.

STAGE 5

Columbia-HTC's Andre Greipel has taken his second successive stage win and moved into the overall lead of the Vuelta a Espana on Thursday.  The German speedster was the fastest in the bunch sprint that decided the day's racing from Tarragona to Vinaros.

After teammate Greg Henderson's win on stage three in Holland and Greipel's victory on stage four in Belgium, Columbia-HTC has now racked up three straight triumphs in the Vuelta.

"I had a tough time when the race came back here to Spain on Wednesday.  It was so much hotter than in Belgium, so I didn't know what my condition would be like.  In fact, I spent most of the rest day shut up in my hotel room with the air conditioning on full blast!  But I felt a lot better today as the stage went on and I managed to come through for the victory."

Already the leader of the points competition, Greipel is now in top position in the overall classification as well.  

"We'll defend both leads as best we can for as long as we can" commented Columbia-HTC sports director Brian Holm.  "It was a very difficult finish, with a steep climb inside the last 10 kilometres but we got through it ok.  [Columbia-HTC rider] Vicente Reynes remembered this finish from the 2005 race and kept us all informed so the guys were all at the front.  After that it was tricky, but we came through well. André's in great shape, and although tomorrow's stage is harder than today's he won't give up his race lead so easily."

STAGE 4

Andre Greipel stormed to Columbia-HTC’s second straight victory of the 2009 Vuelta a Espana and into the lead of the race’s points competition on Tuesday.  Greipel was the fastest of a small group of riders who fought it out for the win after avoiding a big crash in the stage’s final kilometres. 

“First of all,  I hope nobody is hurt and that everybody can use the rest day [on Wednesday] to recover,” Greipel said afterwards.  “Fortunately I was in the right position.  My teammates got me up there and I could go for the win.  I want to dedicate this win to my wife Tina, it’s her birthday today and I was really motivated. This is a present for her.”

Now in the lead of the points jersey, Greipel says he will be taking the defense of his lead on the day-by-day.  “My biggest objective was to win a stage here, but there’s two or three more sprints stages where I think I could do something.”

Greipel’s victory is his sixteenth of the season, a personal record for the German who tallied 15 wins for the team in 2008.  “When you have the support of teammates like on Team Columbia-HTC, it motivates you, and it makes it possible to go for so many wins.”

STAGE 3

Columbia-HTC’s Greg Henderson of New Zealand powered to victory in the bunch sprint that decided stage three of the Vuelta a Espagne.  Henderson was the fastest in the 189.9-kilometre stage running from Zutphen to Venlo in Holland, outsprinting Borut Bozic of Slovenia and Spain’s Oscar Freire.

“My primary aim here in the Vuelta is to get [teammate] Andre Greipel across the line first,” Henderson said.  “But today was my day just because it got mixed up with 500 or 600 metres to go. I opened up my sprint with about 150 metres to go and ended up winning the stage quite easily.  In any case, it’s a long Tour yet and there’ll be plenty more sprint stages.”

Henderson’s victory is the 73rd of the season for Columbia-HTC men’s team and 13th in a major Tour this season. Columbia-HTC has now claimed wins in all three top stage races in 2009.

“If you look through the record books you’ll see a number of different Columbia-HTC riders up there with the wins,” added Henderson.   “We all work for one another, and we all get our chance to win.”