Team HTC-HighRoad starts the 2011 Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy 2011) on May 7th fully intending to repeat their high level of success in the Giro during the latest three seasons, with a total of eleven stage wins as well as spells for their riders in the lead and best young professional competition.

"We're fielding a top quality line-up, with our first objective being the opening team time trial in Turin." Team HTC-Highroad's sports director Valerio Piva commented.

"In the first twelve stages or so, there are four or five that look certain to end in bunch sprints. Afterwards we've got Marco [Pinotti] and Kanstantsin [Sivtsov] for the overall classification, with Craig Lewis providing a lot of support for them in the mountains," Piva added.

Commenting on the previous performances of Team HTC's riders for the general classification in the Giro d'Italia, Piva said "Marco finished in the top ten last year, and Kanstantsin is one of the most consistent guys around when it comes to the third week of racing in a major Tour."

Team HTC's first target will be to repeat their 2009 victory in the exciting stage 1 team time trial.

"It's flat, and parts of it are very technical - similar to the one in Venice in 2009. As a lot of it takes place over city roads, it could be slippery and you can't afford to take risks even if it rains just a little," Piva underscored and added "We've got some top time trial specialists in our line-up, so I think we can be confident of a good result."

Piva expects an exciting start to the Giro d'Italia 2011 "A lot of [the team time trial] will take place on Turin's biggest boulevards, so visually, it should be a really spectacular. A high-speed start to the race."

Pro cycling analysts worldwide expect Team HTC-HighRoad's sprint ace Mark Cavendish to claim multiple stage wins in this year's Tour of Italy.

Piva also has high hopes for Cavendish in the Giro "Italy's like a second home for Mark [Cavendish] and he's always loved the race. He's very motivated and we'll see what he can do. With the whole team to support him, and with Mark Renshaw as his lead-out man, he's going to be very difficult to beat."

Watch 2011 Giro d'Italia video highlights from every stage of the Giro in the video section right here on Roadcycling.com and watch live coverage from the Giro on www.universalsports.com/cycling.

Team HTC-HighRoad roster for the 2011 Giro d'Italia / Tour of Italy 2011:
Mark Cavendish (GB), Mark Renshaw (Aus), Marco Pinotti (Ita), Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Byl), Lars Bak (Den), Patrick Gretsch (Ger), Craig Lewis (USA), Frantisek Rabon (Cze), Alex Rasmussen (Den).