Stage 6
HTC-Columbia’s Hayden Roulston took the last stage of the Tour of Denmark in style on Sunday. On the final straight of next year’s World Championships course in Copenhagen, Roulston flew uphill to take the win out of the last of many breaks that occurred during the stage.
“Hayden rode like he has diamonds in his legs today,” said Sport Director Brian Holm. “He was amazing when he went.”
“It was a very, very hard stage today,” added Holm. “It was raining and it fast all day. At 120km everything was still together so there were constant attacks.”
Just before the race hit the final laps a break with Mark Renshaw looked like it might stay away.
“[Tyler] Farrar was also in the break and it looked like it might work but Renshaw punctured and came back to the peloton so then we started to chase. When we caught the break the next one went with Roulston in it.”
“I’m really happy with the race today. We had someone in every break. All in all it was a good week for us. Three wins with three different riders so I’m happy. [Rasmus] Guldhammer also won the white jersey and came in sixth overall so it was a very good race for him also.”
Stage 4
RENSHAW, GOSS TAKE TOP TWO PLACES IN DENMARK
HTC-Columbia's Mark Renshaw has sprinted to his first victory of 2010 ahead of his teammate Matt Goss in the Tour of Denmark's stage four. The two riders crossed the line with their arms in the air, with Renshaw securing the team's second win of the Danish race at the end of a 99.2 kilometre stage from Nyborg to Odense.
Although there was a four man break early on, the move was brought back in time to set things up for a bunch sprint. And after Goss's victory on stage one, on stage four it was Renshaw's turn to get the winner's bouquet. As Brian Holm, HTC-Columbia's sports director at Denmark, said later, Renshaw's victory was a great reward for one of the team's key support workers.
"It's always really good when one of the guys who does a lot of work for another rider gets a chance to shine in his own right like today, and taking first and second for the team is something special, too. The whole team went to the front with three laps to go, and I think they won the stage quite easily. The key was HTC-Columbia moved to the head of the race at the right time, and set things up perfectly for Mark and Matt. Mark is in good shape at the moment, that's pretty clear, and we're sure he'll be getting back up there in the future as well."
In a great day's racing for HTC-Columbia, Renshaw's victory took place a few hours before teammate André Greipel secured a bunch sprint win in the Tour of Poland.
Stage 1
GOSS TAKES OPENING STAGE OF DENMARK FOR HTC-COLUMBIA
Australia's Matt Goss has secured the opening stage of the Tour of Denmark on Wednesday. The HTC-Columbia rider was the fastest in the stage in Holstebro with team-mate Mark Renshaw in third.
After his victories in a stage of the Giro d'Italia in May and in the Philadelphia International Championships in the USA in June, this is Goss's third win of the season.
"There were three laps of 3.5 kilometres at the finish and it was very technical. We knew that it might be risky so we went to check things out before and that helped a lot," said HTC-Columbia sports director Brian Holm. "For the first 150 kilometres things were quiet, Saxo Bank were doing a lot of work, and then things started to get faster for the last part, and it all got a bit more complicated.
"One of our riders crashed [Gert Dockx] on the finishing circuit as it started raining very heavily, and that meant we knew we had to stay at the front. Coming up to the sprint, there were a lot of crashes too in the closing kilometres, but Goss got through them ok for the win. I'm very pleased for him."
Holm says that rather than looking too far ahead, the team will be gunning for stage wins. "Goss was hoping for a win here, he's got it now and I know all the guys are keen to do well here, so we'll take it on the day by day."
