HTC-Columbia began its first training camp of the 2010 season three days ago on the Spanish island of Mallorca. The goal of the camp is to fine tune the team’s fitness to prepare them for the early season races. Nineteen riders were able to participate.
Last month’s camp in the Canary Islands was more laid back, but now the team needs to get down to business if they intend to come close to their win tally from 2009.
“Lanzarote was about everybody, old and new guys on the team, getting to know each other,” explained team manager Rolf Adag. “We had big apartments with six riders in each, instead of the usual double rooms. Now we want to get the riders in shape for the upcoming races and give them a strong base for the whole season.”
The weather hasn’t been kind to the American team, with rain delaying the start of today’s training session. “We delayed the start by an hour because it was wet and cold but that was the only change to the day’s program,” said Aldag. “There was no point in risking them getting ill because of the weather.” Roads surfaces on the island of Mallorca are also known for being extremely dangerous when wet.
“Today we moved the start to training forward an hour, but we did a big work load yesterday [Sunday], riding for an hour longer yesterday because the weather forecast for Monday was so bad,” added Aldag. “Even so, they all completed between four and five hours, one group working with the time trial bikes. As it’s only the third full day of training, it was still all fairly straightforward.”
The team will take a break from training tomorrow and spend the day with team sponsors and the media. Today the HTC-Columbia women’s team arrived at the camp, and management said it’s good for the team to get everyone together.
“This is one of the few chances we get to have the full team here together,” Aldag pointed out, “and that’s an advantage to the camp for both the riders and the staff. It’s also an ideal opportunity for our partners to collaborate with our staff before the start of the 2010 season.”
The team will remain on Mallorca until the 20th of January.