Team HTC-Columbia will field a strong mix of all-rounders and sprinters for the 2010 Tirreno-Adriatico, which starts tomorrow in the coastal city of Livorno, Italy.

"I'm only expecting a couple of bunch sprint finishes, the first and the last stages," Team HTC-Columbia's sports director Valerio Piva commented about the seven-day Italian event. "But with all these tough little finishing circuits in between, no time trial, and two very long, hard stages in the mountains of central Italy, Tirreno will probably see some big splits in the field, too.  The time bonuses at the finishes and in the intermediate sprints will have a larger than usual influence on the way the race develops, too."

The HTC-Columbia Team is planning to let Australian Michael Rogers contend the overall. After winning the Tour of Andalusia in Spain and placing well in the Strade Bianche event this past weekend, the Australian is highly motivated for Italy's second biggest stage race.
"Michael's certainly in great shape, although it's a pity there's no time trial, which would have suited him even more", Piva stated. "For the overall classification we've also got Michael Albasini [SWI], who's always up there with the other top guys on stages with uphill finishes.  And Marco Pinotti's [ITA] always got a good chance in these sorts of races, too."

Great Britain's Mark Cavendish will use Tirreno-Adriatico "as another important step toward Milan-San Remo.  That said, there's no way he'll be going in too deep. You don't want to burn yourself out in Tirreno-Adriatico and not have enough strength left to do well in Milan-San Remo.  But whenever there's a bunch sprint, that's always a good stage for Mark." according to Piva.

Team HTC-Columbia for Tirreno-Adriatico 2010:
Michael Rogers (Aus); Michael Albasini (Swi); Marco Pinotti (Ita); Mark Cavendish (GB); Lars Bak (Den); Bernhard Eisel (Aut); Bert Grabsch (Ger), and Peter Velits (Slo).