Mark Cavendish
[img-r]https://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu145/alexkr93/The%20team%20for%202010/Team%202010/markcavendish.png[/img-r]The Brit Champion is definitly our main sprinter, with 4 Giro and 2 Vuelta stage wins last year. But probably this year he will ride only the Giro as a Grand Tour where he should try to get the ciclamino jersey. Of course Giro isn't his main goal for the 2010, he will probably be riding for as many stage wins as he can get in all the races that he will be in. His season will start in January with Tour of Qatar, the race that he got the overall victory in 2008.
Bernhard Eisel
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With 8 stages in Le Tour, 3 in 2008 and 5 in 2009, and one victory in Vuelta (2008) he is our best sprinter when it comes to Grand Tours. He is not the fastest sprinter in our team or in the pack, but with his puncheur abilities, fighter and cobble he is there at the top when the other sprinters aren't and that's his advantage. I 2010 he will ride again in Le Tour trying to get the green jersey in Paris, after he missed it this year because of a crash in the mountains at a moment when he was clearly in the lead of the points rankings.
Gerald Ciolek
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With Cavendish riding only the Giro this year, Ciolek will probably be our main sprinter for Vuelta, where he took a stage win last year and 2 seconds places behind Mark. He is young, talented and fast but he still isn't good enough to be the best sprinter in the pack as he has some problems with the others abilities but with time he will become way better, probably as good as Mark Cavendish. Maybe 2010 will be his season as for the first time he will our main sprinter in a Grand Tour, after riding in past both Vuelta and Le Tour as a team-mate for Eisel or Cavendish
Edvald Boasson Hagen
One of our huge talents on all the terains[img-r]https://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu145/alexkr93/The%20team%20for%202010/Team%202010/edvaldboassonhagen.png[/img-r] is Edvald Boasson Hagen. He started the last year's Tour de France as a lead-out man for Bernhard Eisel. But he managed to get 2 stage wins for himself, one of them in Paris on Champs Elysees, and with Eisel's withdrew he managed to get the green on the podim in Paris. This year he will ride Le Tour again, but it seems hard for him to defend his green jersey, with his main rival being his team-mate Bernhard Eisel, that he will probably have to work for.
Jos Van Emden
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Jos had a great Giro last year, by being only Cavendish's lead-out man he managed to wear the ciclamino jersey for a few days. This year he will not race the Giro, concentrating his season on Vuelta, where he will probably make a sprint team with Burghardt and Ciolek. Though that he has good spint abilities he will proably never be one of our main spinters as he is more made to be a lead-out man rather than a spint-star, judjing after what could become his flat potential in the future.
Juan van Heerden
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The South African isn't on of our best sprinters. He is fast but still not good enough to fight with the best sprinters in the pack. So that's way in 2010, like 2009 he won't be racing in big races, trying to get more experience in the small races where he could be the lead-out or maybe the main-sprinter is ome of them. His sprint potential looks great and for sure he will be one of the best, but only in the future. We will have to wait and see if that's a close future or a far future, lets hope is the close one.
Jonathan Bellis
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The Ex-Brit Champion didn't ride too much last year, because like Van Heerden he's too young and un-experienced to keep it up with the big guys. Still he could get some chances to show his power and gain some experience in small races where the big guys or even our team-leaders won't be racing. He could become the lead-out man for his compatriot, Mark Cavendish, but only time will tell that.
Thomas Lovkvist
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Lovkvist's 7th place in Vuelta last year was our Grand Tour best performance. He also took 2 stage wins there. This year he will ride Le Tour de France, probably being after the polka dot jersey, that he won in 2008, La Vuelta a Espana where he could be the leader himself, though that Karpets' luxury-team-mate seems to be his role for Vuelta. He will also be back in Paris Correze the race that he won in 2008 and defended the title in 2009, a race that seems to be made for him.
Linus Gerdemann
2008 was a way better year for him with his victories[img-r]https://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu145/alexkr93/The%20team%20for%202010/Team%202010/linusgerdemann.png[/img-r] in Tirreno - Adriatico, Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Tour de Romandie, a stage win in Le Tour and the white jersey in Paris on Champs Elysees.2009 was also a good year for Linus, but missed all his chances for a good spot overall in Le Tour after a crash in the early stages. His only goals left were to get a stage win and the polka dot jersey. He finished in Paris with the polka dot jersey on his shoulders, but the stage win never came. In 2010 he will have to defend 2 home titles, in Germany, the National Champion one, after he won the jersey in both 2008 and 2009, and the overall win in Tour of Germany that he managed to put on his winning list last year.
Michael Rogers
This year he won't be riding Le Tour, like he did in the past years.[img-r]https://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu145/alexkr93/The%20team%20for%202010/Team%202010/michaelrogers.png[/img-r] He will only focus on the Giro, where we all hope he will perform better than last year, when he couldn't get in the top 10 of the final rankigs, but now it's an another year. He was the National Champion in 2008, in 2009 he finished first behind the breakaway group that won it so he is the main favourite to take the Aussie Champion jersey this year. But he has to be really careful at a breakaway, maybe even make part of it.
Vladimir Karpets
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He is the new guy in our team for this season, but that should affect him. He's the title holder in Vuelta a Espana and maybe somehow he will manage to keep it this season and take the first overall win in a Grand Tour for Columbia. In 2010 he will be mostly our leader for the overall rankings in the Spanish races, first big races of the season for him being Tirreno - Adriatico.
David Zabriskie
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The World Time Trial Champion is definitly Zabriskie's biggest performance all time. He won it in 2009 so it means that in 2010 he will ride a whole season in the ITT rainbow jersey. Though he can pass pretty good over hills and mountains his best results are far way in the TT races, being as well the USA time trial champion, in 2008 and 2009. So this season he has to defend 2 TT jerseys. He will probably be just like in 2008 riding the Giro as a Grand Tour and maybe he could take a stage win.
Lars Boom
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One of our huge talents the Dutch man, National Champion in 2008 is at the moment one of the best all-rounders in the pack, proably in a year or two he will have no opponent in the time trial races, with the good potential to win as well some stage races. He will ride as in the past three year the Giro, where he will one of our lead-out men for Mark Cavendish, in his way to take the ciclamino jersey. Lars could also do well in the National races in June.
Bradley Wiggins
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Wiggins is one of the best guys in the World, not only in our team, when it comes to time - trial. His main weakness are the mountains, mainly any uphills. He is our third Brit and he could join his compatriots in some races to be one of our riders in the sprint trains. He's only goals for 2010 seem to be some time - trial stages and help other riders in the flat stages as much as he can.
Mikhail Ignatiev
Though that his main ability are the time - trials his best performances aren't coming[img-r]https://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu145/alexkr93/The%20team%20for%202010/Team%202010/Mikhailignatiev.jpg[/img-r] from those kind of races, but he is always one of the top riders there and could anytime make a surprise. Being one of top 3 fighters in the World at the moment, he is surely a key element in our sprint train, where he should be leading-out Cavendish during the Giro in 2010. He is the Russian National Champion and he could have a good chance to keep his jersey after June 2010 as well, now having Karpets in his team, but he could also be doing Karpets' job there.
Bert Grabsch
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This could be the last season for the Ex-German time-trial champion. He's getting old and except the German Time Trial race he didn't nothing really important for the team in the past years. We don't really to see him going but he seems to be the only rider that will leave Team Columbia at the end of the season. And proably because of that maybe we will see him making some good goog-bye results for us.
Marco Pinotti
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Finishing the Italian Championships 2nd twice in a row isn't bad, but this means that he was the loser for 2 years in a row. Still he had good seasons with Columbia, even winning a Giro stage and the KoM jersey in Vuelta, but that was happening in 2008. For this season he won't be riding 2 Grand Tours like in the previous years, we will see him only riding the home race, Giro d'Italia. Still his main goal for this season seems to be getting back the Italian TT jersey that we wore untill June 2008.
Tony Martin
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He looks to be a man made for the time - trial. Tony could be our next Bert Grabsch, now that Grabsch will proably will be leaving the team at the end of the season. But Martin isn't really like Grabsch as he can go over mountains or hills pretty well, way better than Grabsch and with a little bit of luck he will even be able to beat Grabsch's results, in his glory times.
Taylor Phinney
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An another one of our huge talents. At only 19 years old Phinney can go pretty well in the time - trials. But he also seems to have the potential to go over mountains and hills, so probably one of the best stage racers in the future. 2009 was his first year at Columbia and as a pro and he managed to get a win, being now the USA road champion. He was in the winning breakaway and he was help by his team-mate, John Devind, that was also in the breakway to take the biggest win of his carrer so far at only 18 years at the moment. So maybe 2010 he will be even a better season for him, but if not 2010 we will see him really shining in the next years he is surely the next big champion in the years to come.
Dominique Cornu
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Cornu is one of our new names for 2010. He didn't have great past seasons with Silence Lotto, except the win at the Belgium time - trial race in 2008. Maybe he could do the same thing now in 2010 riding for Columbia and he will wear for us the Belgian Champion jersey. He is a pretty good time-trialist at the moment and the fact that he is sitll pretty young could mean that he could became better in the future.
Adam Hansen
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Hansen's only ability seem to be the time-trials. So he isn't anything to say about him, he isn't even so impressive in TT's either so he's not really the most talented rider in the pack, but he's hear in our team mainly as a gregario for the big guys. He could help Rogers get back his Aussi title at the start of the season.
Frantisek Rabon
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The Czech Natinal Champion is Rabon. He won the title after a incredible solo breakaway. He isn't too good in time-trial, though that is his main ability. He is pretty good on hills and flat as well so he is a great helper four our team leaders. In 2010 he will proably try to defend his title in the National Championships.
Kim Kirchen
[img-r]https://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu145/alexkr93/kimkirchen.png[/img-r]Kirchen is definitly our team - leader and that's no doubt. He is our main rider for the overall rankings in Le Tour de France, finishing 5th in 2008 and 10th in 2009. Winning the Pro Tour individual rankings in 2008 and also 2009 means that he isn't just our man for Le Tour. He is a great puncheur being able to compete with the best guys in the pack when it comes to the Ardennes Classics. Some of his highlights wins are: 5 stages in Le Tour (1 in 2009 and 4 in 2008), Liege - Bastogne - Liege, Tour of Lombardy, Paris - Nice, GP de Plouay, Tour de Romanide, Tour de Suisse, Vuelta al Pais Vasco. In 2010 we will see him racing again in Le Tour and Paris - Nice and proabably trying to beat his performances that he had last year in the Ardennes Classics.
Marcus Burghardt
[img-r]https://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu145/alexkr93/marcusburghardt.png[/img-r]Though that he has a huge potential on the cobbles Marcus still he wasn't too impresive in those races except a top 10 in Paris - Roubaix and 2nd in Monte Paschi Eroica. His main results of his carrer came in the end of the last season, when after a great tactic he managed to won Paris - Tours in front of Tom Boonen, one of his rivals on the cobbles, but Boonen won't be riding this season in any of the top or medium races. In 2010 we should see him trying to get better in Paris - Roubaix, helping Ciolek in Vuelta, where he helped both Cavendish and Ciolek last year and probably his main goal of the season: defend his title in Paris Tours.
Martijn Maaskant
[img-r]https://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu145/alexkr93/martijnmaaskant.jpg[/img-r]Being a new comer this season doesn't seem to affect Maaskant as he will be our leader for the 'northen classics' where he should replace George Hincapie, the winner of Gent - Wevelgem 2009. But Maaskant isn't good just on the cobbles, he is also a pretty good puncheur and time - trialist. With his flat/fighter ability he will be one of our key riders for the sprint train, proably riding Le Tour de France, together with Hagen helping Eisel get his first green jersey in Paris. Though that he is our leader for the cobbled races we won't expect too much for him this season as this will be his first season with us. Boom and Van Emden should help him being more familiar with the rest of the team.
Gianni Meersman
[img-r]https://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu145/alexkr93/giannimeersman.jpg[/img-r]An another new sign for this season is Gianni Meersman. He is a rider made for the 'northen classics' just like Maaskant. He isn't very good at the moment but he has a huge potential to become the best rider in the World and that only in just a few years. He is also a good puncheur, time - trialist and sprinter, but he can also became the best fighter in the World, together with Mikhail Ignatiev. This should be a season for getting experience and become better for the next seasons.
glad you like it.
Looking forward to the new season!
