28/06/2009 - Le Tour 2009 Teams - Columbia Highroad
The Tour de France 2009 starts in Monaco on the 4th July. We build up to the start of the greatest cycle race in the world with a look at each team.
Bikes: Scott
Components: Shimano, PRO
Sponsor: Outdoors clothing manufacturer
Country: USA
Colours: White, yellow and black
Riders to watch: Mark Cavendish, Kim Kirchen, George Hincapie
Points of Interest:
The team will be riding a new Scott Plasma time trial bike - whose design borrows heavily from the Giant / High Road bike of last season.
2009 Tour:
The Columbia Highroad team is arguably the biggest team in the sport at the moment, and the most successful of 2008. The team´s biggest chance of success in this year´s race lies with Britain´s Mark Cavendish, who could well challenge for the green jersey. The Manxman sprinter, who won 4 stages in last year´s race, has been in good form this season after winning the Milan San Remo and several stage victories.
The team´s best chance in the general classification is Kim Kirchin, who finished 7th in last year´s race after Bernard Kohl´s disqualification for testing positive for performance enhancing substances.
The team is also home to George Hincapie, a rider who was at Lance Armstrong´s side for all 7 of his Tour de France victories. This year, the two will be riding on different teams, yet remain close friends.
