Suunto-supported professional cycling team HTC-Columbia have begun 2010 in the same way they finished 2009: by winning races.
HTC-Columbia’s riders use Suunto t6c heart rate monitors combined with Road Bike PODs and Comfort Belts during training, reflecting in early season victories in races in Australia, Oman and Portugal. The Road Bike POD is fully compatible with SRM cranks, used by all top professional cyclists to measure power output.
Andre Greipel won the overall classification Santos Tour Down Under in January, picking up three stage wins along the way. The 27-year-old German was well supported by his team-mates who controlled the race during a mountainous stage five, enabling the sprint specialist to maintain an 11 second lead over second-placed Luis Leon Sanchez (Spain).
Greipel’s impressive form continued at the Tour of Algarve in February, when he battled miserable weather conditions to win the event’s second stage.
“It was a really difficult stage, more than 200 kilometres long, six and a half hours of riding through terrible weather, and on top of that there were some hard climbs and a difficult uphill finish as well,” said HTC-Columbia sports director Tristan Hoffman.
On February 17, 20-year-old Australian Leigh Howard won his first race as a professional, sprinting to victory in stage four of the Tour of Oman.
“I'd only ridden one previous race with the pros, the Tour of Ireland last year, so to come here and beat some of the top guys in the peloton is an amazing feeling,” Howard said afterwards.
The team’s results will give them confidence as they head into the high profile ‘Spring Classics’ part of the professional cycling season. HTC-Columbia’s women’s team began their 2010 campaign in February’s Tour of Qatar and will continue in March at the Spanish Merco Tour.
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