Columbia-HTC Team Ready to Defend Tour of Ireland Title

Columbia-HTC has confirmed a strong team around sprinter Mark Cavendish and defending Tour of Ireland champion Marc Pinotti. Bert Grabsch, Craig Lewis, Frantisek Rabon, Vicente Reynes and Morris Possoni complete the seven man team.

Grabsch has a powerful engine which he has used to great effect to win the German time trial championship on two occasions and he is the reigning World Time Trial Champion. Frantisek Rabon had spectators screaming support last year when the Czech rider escaped from the clutches of the bunch in a two-up break and then went on to win the final stage on his own on the tough city circuit in Cork. Rabon has won Czech Republic time trial championships at U23 and senior levels and has three Giro d’Italia campaigns under his belt.

Craig Lewis is a young and talented American rider in his second year with the team .He won the US U23 road and criterium championships in 2006 and this is his second time racing in Ireland. He finished 6th overall in the inaugural Tour of Ireland event in 2007 riding with the Garmin Slipstream outfit. Morris Possoni is an excellent team worker but has showed that he is capable of results in his own right when he wore the Young Riders Jersey in the Giro d’Italia in 2008.

28-year-old Vicente Reynes from Mallorca is a former stage winner of Paris-Nice.

Pinotti has publicly declared his intention to win the race again this year but the team also looks like it could be built for stage finish line-outs for fast finisher Mark Cavendish.

Photo: Bert Grabsch (Germany) on his way to winning the UCI Road World Championships Time Trial gold medal in Italy in 2008