While HTC-Columbia’s Andre Greipel leads the Tour Down Under in Australia, the men’s and women’s teams are wrapping up their second and final training camp for the 2010 season. The riders and staff are coming out of the two-week camp in Mallorca, Spain with great satisfaction. The 2010 men’s team complete their camp on Wednesday while the women’s team will stay on the Spanish island through Saturday.
“We got everything we wanted out of this camp and we’re happy with the result,” HTC-Columbia’s team manager Rolf Aldag said. “The weather has been bad throughout Europe, so we were right to come training here in Mallorca. We had to delay one day’s training by one hour and it was cold at the beginning of the camp but otherwise there were no compromises.”
The leadership of the women’s team also felt the camp was a step in the right direction. “We’ve laid some very valuable groundwork here,” HTC-Columbia women’s team manager Ronny Lauke added. “The new riders and veteran members of the team have gotten to know each other well, we’ve completed all the logistical work that was needed, and we’ve done a lot of training rides – up to six hours – as well. Morale is high and we’re ready to go. We’re very optimistic.”
Following the Tour Down Under in Australia, rosters from both the women’s and men’s teams will head to Qatar in the Middle East in early February to take part in the Tours of Oman and Qatar.