With today’s start of the Giro d’Italia fast approaching, Team Columbia-Highroad’s nine riders for the three-week event are in top condition and ready to go.

In a pre-race press conference yesterday morning, Milan-San Remo winner Mark Cavendish confirmed that he will be looking to get a spell in the pink leader’s jersey as well as going all out for victory in as many sprints as possible.

However, he also insisted that all nine of the Team Columbia-Highroad riders, not just him, will be on the hunt for victory - and it won¹t just be the flat stages that he and his teammates will be targeting.

“We’ve got 21 chances of success in the Giro and a chance of overall victory,” he said. “I want to win stages and I want to wear the maglia rosa or the points jersey if possible as well. But I’m not under pressure because we¹ve  got such a versatile team that can perform well overall and on every stage.”

“There are four or five opportunities for me this year, but there are four or five for other sprinters as well. I’m more mature as a rider this year.  I’m stronger, I’m climbing better and I’m more established,” he said. “The Giro is a beautiful race and Venice is a beautiful backdrop for the race. The Italians make the most of the special occasions and you can appreciate that.  It’s a great race to ride.”

Team owner Bob Stapleton added, “I think the Giro is going to be one of Europe’s great sporting events and we’ve brought a very strong team to make sure we honor it properly.  As recognition of that, our riders will be using a special edition team jersey for the Giro with pink sections on the sides and sleeves.”

Team Columbia-Highroad for the 2009 Giro d'Italia: Mark Cavendish (GB); Michael Rogers (Aus); Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor); Thomas Lovkvist (Swe); Marco Pinotti (Ita); Mark Renshaw (Aus); Michael Barry (Can); Morris Possoni (Ita); Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Byl).