Team HTC-Columbia
Encyclopedia
HTC-Highroad is a professional cycling team
competing in international road bicycle races. Their current title sponsor is HTC Corporation, a Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones. High Road Sports is the management company of team manager Bob Stapleton
. Past title sponsors include Columbia Sportswear
and Deutsche Telekom
. Team HTC-Highroad is expected to dissolve at the end of the 2011 season from a failure to find a new sponsor.
The team was founded in 1991 as Team Telekom, sponsored by Deutsche Telekom. In 2004 their name changed to the T-Mobile-Team. It contains a total of 29 riders, 9 physiotherapists or nurses, 9 mechanics and service persons, and has 22 partners. The team is under the management of Bob Stapleton
and Rolf Aldag
. Former leaders include Olaf Ludwig
, Walter Godefroot
and Eddy Vandenhecke (managers), Luuc Eisenga (spokesperson) and Brian Holm
, Valerio Piva (sports directors).
set up a German cycling team
that was sponsored by the city of Stuttgart
and rode on Eddy Merckx cycles. The team was called Stuttgart-Merckx-Gonsor for the 1989 season and had nine riders (which included Udo Bölts
). At that time when there were no German cycling teams and the country's main cycling event, the Rund um den Henninger Turm had not been won by a German since Rudi Altig in 1970. During its first year of existence team rider Dariusc Kajzer brought the team its first success in the National Road Race Championships in Germany. The team became Stuttgart-Mercedes-Merckx-Puma in 1990 and Bölts continued the success of the team by becoming road race champion of Germany.
that prompted him to accept the Telekom management’s offer to take over the running of the team. Godefroot signed several riders including Classics specialist and 1991 Paris–Roubaix winner Marc Madiot
. Bölts who was involved with the team since its beginnings in 1989 would stay with the team until 2003, continued building on the successes of the team by winning stage 19, the Queen stage of the 1992 Giro d'Italia
. Jens Heppner continued this with his tenth place overall at the 1992 Tour de France
.
The Telekom team signed all the promising cyclists that were coming from Germany at that time and who were becoming successful. These included Jens Heppner
and Christian Henn
in 1992, Erik Zabel
, Rolf Aldag
and Steffen Wesemann
in 1993 and Jan Ullrich
in 1994. Many of these riders would ride for more than ten years with the team. Olaf Ludwig
also signed in 1993 and finished his career with the team. In 1994, Zabel won the first UCI Road World Cup victory in the history of the team, the Paris–Tours.
In 1993 the team again achieved success in the national championship road race in Germany. This was the start of the team’s 11 year domination and possession of the German champion’s jersey. Many of the successful team riders that spent many years of their career with Telekom would become German national champions – Bernd Gröne in 1993, Jens Heppner in 1994, Bölts in 1990, 1995 and 1999, Christian Henn in 1996, Jan Ullrich in 1997 and 2001, Erik Zabel in 1998 and 2003, Rolf Aldag in 2000, Danilo Hondo in 2002 and finally Andreas Klöden in 2004.
The team soon became an important presence on the international cycling stage. However the team was not invited to the 1995 Tour de France
. Eventually the organisers of the Tour agreed that six Telekom members, namely Rolf Aldag, Udo Bölts, Jens Heppner, Vladimir Pulnikov, Erik Zabel and Olaf Ludwig, would be joined with three members of the ZG Mobili to form a composite team. Zabel went on to win two stages in the race.
The next two years saw the international breakthrough of the team. Godefroot brought in Danish
rider Bjarne Riis
, the third place finisher of the 1995 Tour and he went on to win the 1996 Tour de France
, with the then 22-year old German support rider Jan Ullrich
finishing in second place. In addition, Zabel won the first of six green jerseys for winning the points competition. Bolts won the Clásica de San Sebastián and Wesemann won his second and the first of four wins with the Telekom team of the famous stage race the Peace Race.
The 1997 Tour de France
saw the emergence of Ullrich as he won the race with support from Riis, who in turn had won the World Cup race Amstel Gold Race
earlier in 1997. Team Telekom also won the team classification, as the overall strongest team of the 1997 Tour. In addition, Bolts won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Zabel won Milan – San Remo for the first of four times with the team. Ullrich also won the Championships of Hamburg semi-classic. The following year this race was elevated to the status of World Cup. In addition the Deutschland Tour returned in 1999 – evidence of the continuing popularity of cycling in Germany at the time. While Ullrich had a crash in the race and was forced to retire, Team Telekom did win the first edition of the race with Heppner and would win the race again with Alexander Vinokourov
in 2001.
Ullrich finished second in the 1998 Tour de France
but went on to win the 1999 Vuelta a España
, although he missed the 1999 Tour de France
due to a knee injury. After winning the Vuelta, Ullrich became World time trial champion which enabled him to wear the rainbow jersey during time trials. He would win this again in 2001. The next year, Zabel won the overall World Cup victory, having won the Milan – San Remo and Amstel Gold Race, while Ullrich placed second again in the 2000 Tour de France
to Lance Armstrong
. Ullrich won the gold medal in the Olympic road race and the silver medal in the Olympic time trial. In 2001, Zabel won Milan – San Remo for the fourth time. Ullrich came in second in the 2001 Tour de France
, while Zabel won six stages combined in the 2001 Tour and Vuelta. Kazakh
rider Alexandre Vinokourov won the Paris–Nice stage race in 2002, a feat he would duplicate in 2003, also winning the Amstel Gold Race and Tour de Suisse
that year. As Ullrich left the team to form Team Bianchi
in 2003, Vinokourov became team leader for the 2003 Tour de France
. He finished in third place, just below the second placed Ullrich. Zabel won the 2003 Paris–Tours, while Italian rider Daniele Nardello
took the Züri-Metzgete.
The team had a continuous presence at the top of the professional peloton and continued to sign the emerging German cyclists of the times with Andreas Klöden
in 1998, Jörg Jaksche
in 1999, Matthias Kessler in 2000 and Stefan Schumacher in 2002 to name but a few. In addition the team signed many successful non-German riders such as Georg Totschnig
, Alexander Vinokourov
, Cadel Evans
, Santiago Botero
and Paolo Savoldelli
.
in 2003 from the perspective of the then-Team Telekom.
From 2004, the team changed its name to T-Mobile. Jan Ullrich returned to the team. The team achieved a great number of success, among which was Steffan Wesemanns win in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Coming up to the 2004 Tour de France
, Kloden became German road race champion and Ullrich won the Tour de Suisse
and raced the 2004 Tour de France
as team leader, while Vinokourov did not ride the Tour de France for the team. Jan Ullrich finished fourth, while Andreas Klöden
was the best placed rider of the team in second place. T-Mobile Team won the team classification, as the overall strongest team of the 2004 Tour. In the spring season of 2005, Vinokourov won the Liège–Bastogne–Liège classic race. Ullrich, as the team leader, finished 3rd overall in the 2005 Tour de France
. Alexandre Vinokourov rode in support, and finished fifth as he won two stages, including the final stage on the Champs-Elysees
. Italian rider Giuseppe Guerini
also won a stage and T-Mobile Team matched their 2004 feat by once again winning the team classification in 2005. Zabel won the Paris–Tours for the third time at the end of the season.
In July 2005, during the 2005 Tour, Vinokourov's contract was running out and speculation was abundant if he was to stay with T-Mobile. With four days left of the 2005 Tour, he made an announcement that he would leave the team to pursue his own chances of winning the Tour de France as a team captain and after the Tour he joined the Liberty Seguros team. After 13 years with Team Telekom and T-Mobile Team, Erik Zabel also left in 2005 to ride for the newly formed Team Milram
. Before the 2006 season, Walter Godefroot stepped down and Olaf Ludwig became the new T-Mobile team manager.
, thirteen riders were expelled from the 2006 Tour de France
stemming from a Spanish doping scandal
, on the eve of Strasbourg prologue to the 93rd edition. Jan Ullrich, one of the favorites to win the race, was among those excluded from the Tour. Another T-Mobile rider, Oscar Sevilla
, was also expelled, leaving the team starting with only seven riders.
On July 9, the team announced the dismissal of its sporting director, Rudy Pevenage, for his implication with former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich in a Spanish blood doping
scandal. "The contract linking T-Mobile to Pevenage has been retrospectively stopped on June 30," the team's general manager, Olaf Ludwig, said.
On July 21, 2006, T-Mobile fired Jan Ullrich from the team pending the doping investigation.
At the 2006 Tour de France
, T-Mobile won the team classification for the third consecutive year, Andreas Klöden
reached the podium (3rd place) for the second time, Matthias Kessler
won Stage 3, Serhiy Honchar
won two individual time trial
s (Stages 7 and 19) and wore the yellow jersey
for 3 days (after Stages 7–9).
After the Tour de France, the team completely changed; Team manager Olaf Ludwig
left the team and was replaced by Bob Stapleton
. Rolf Aldag
, Allan Peiper
and Tristan Hoffman
became directeur sportifs. As already discussed Ullrich, Sevilla and Pevenage were dismissed from the team. Several riders who had been with the team for a long time such as Steffen Wesemann
, Andreas Klöden
and Matthias Kessler
left or their contracts were not extended. Jörg Ludewig was put on suspension and his contract was not increased in connection with intention to dope previously in his career and before he joined T-Mobile. Eddy Mazzoleni
who was in his first year for the team would also leave. The contracts of Bram Schmitz and Bas Gilling were not renewed. Dr. Lothar Heinrich, the team doctor since 1995, and Dr. Andreas Schmid set up a new comprehensive testing system. Following the revelations that came out of the Operación Puerto investigation, Heinrich allegedly nearly quit the sport but instead he joined with Stapleton and other team staff to create a new system of internal controls and health checks that he insisted would demonstrate that T-Mobile riders were clean and to restore credibility to the sport.
In May 2007, several former riders admitted to using banned substances (including EPO
) while riding for the team in the mid 1990s, including Erik Zabel
, Rolf Aldag
, Brian Holm
, Bjarne Riis
, Bert Dietz, Udo Bölts
and Christian Henn
including the seasons in which Riis and Ullrich won the Tour de France. Team doctors Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich also confessed to participating and administering banned substances. The latter was Team Telekom's sporting director until May 3, 2007 when he was suspended following allegations published in former team member Jef d'Hont's book.
In an effort to present a renewed image the team brought a young team to the 2007 Tour de France
, and promoted a drug-free attitude and image. Despite this, team member Patrik Sinkewitz
tested positive for elevated testosterone during a training camp. The test results were only announced when Sinkiewitz had dropped out of the Tour because of injury. He was still in hospital when he was suspended from Team T-Mobile, and was dismissed on July 31, 2007.
The team continued thanks to funding solely from the team owner Bob Stapleton, as the team did not have enough time to gather sponsors for the new year. The team had a successful start to the year with Luxembourg rider Kim Kirchen
winning the classic La Flèche Wallonne. Results like this and also High-Road's performance at the Giro d'Italia
helped the team secure a sponsor for the end of the year
announced a three year sponsorship of the team beginning on July 5, the start of the Tour de France
. The team's new name is "Team Columbia". The sponsorship includes both the men's and women's teams. The announcement of this new deal with Columbia coincided with a highly successful Tour, in which the team won 5 individual stages (four of which went to British sprinter Mark Cavendish
) as well as team leader Kim Kirchen
leading the general classification in the Tour de France for four days in addition to leading the points classification in the Tour de France
.
The team capped off a successful 2008 by finishing second to Team CSC
in the CQ Team Ranking.
. The team's new name is "Team Columbia-HTC." Like the Columbia Sportswear
sponsorship, the HTC sponsorship includes both the men's and women's teams. The team enjoyed great success at the 2009 Tour de France
with Mark Cavendish
winning 6 stages over the course of the 3 weeks. The most memorable of these was his victory on the Champs-Élysées
in Paris where he won by a huge margin; almost 30m, with his own lead out man, Mark Renshaw
having enough time to come in 2nd with his arms raised. A documentary film called Chasing Legends
was later released that covered the 2009 tour through the eyes of HTC-Columbia.
August proved a very good month for Norwegian allrounder Edvald Boasson Hagen
, with two stage wins and a podium finish in the Tour of Poland
and two more stage wins and the GC win in the Eneco Tour
. After stage wins in the other two Grand Tours of 2009, it took the team only three days to win yet another in the Vuelta
, where Gregory Henderson took home the flowers.
Despite its many successes, Team Columbia does not seem to be able to afford as many top riders as they have, and due to their many victories, a lot of riders were targeted by other teams for the 2010 season. Notable riders such as Kim Kirchen
, Edvald Boasson Hagen
, Michael Barry
, George Hincapie
and Thomas Lövkvist
elected to leave the team. As replacements, a lot of young talented riders, such as Jan Ghyselinck, Rasmus Guldhammer and Martin
and Peter Velits
, were contracted.
On October 17, 2010 Team Columbia HTC announced a tie up with Specialized
for 2011 and beyond. Specialized will supply the team‘s frames, forks, and helmets. The men will race the S-Works Tarmac for most road races, the S-Works Roubaix for cobbled classics, and the Shiv TT in time trials. The all-new S-Works Prevail and TT3 helmets will protect the riders in road and TT applications, respectively.
On August 4, 2011 General Manager Bob Stapleton announced that Team HTC-Highroad are set to fold at the end of the 2011 season
after failing to find a new sponsor.
Cycling team
A cycling team is a group of cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle races whether recreational or professional - and the supporting personnel...
competing in international road bicycle races. Their current title sponsor is HTC Corporation, a Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones. High Road Sports is the management company of team manager Bob Stapleton
Bob Stapleton
Bob Stapleton is an American entrepreneur and the team owner of cycling team . Stapleton was previously the team manager of when it was known as...
. Past title sponsors include Columbia Sportswear
Columbia Sportswear
Columbia Sportswear Company is a United States company that manufactures and distributes outerwear and sportswear. It was founded in 1938 by the late Paul Lamfrom, father of present chairperson Gert Boyle. The company is headquartered in Washington County, Oregon, in an unincorporated part of the...
and Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....
. Team HTC-Highroad is expected to dissolve at the end of the 2011 season from a failure to find a new sponsor.
The team was founded in 1991 as Team Telekom, sponsored by Deutsche Telekom. In 2004 their name changed to the T-Mobile-Team. It contains a total of 29 riders, 9 physiotherapists or nurses, 9 mechanics and service persons, and has 22 partners. The team is under the management of Bob Stapleton
Bob Stapleton
Bob Stapleton is an American entrepreneur and the team owner of cycling team . Stapleton was previously the team manager of when it was known as...
and Rolf Aldag
Rolf Aldag
Rolf Aldag is a former professional road bicycle racer who rode for Team Telekom from 1993 to 2005. He has raced in 10 Tour de France, 1 Giro d'Italia and 5 Vuelta a España...
. Former leaders include Olaf Ludwig
Olaf Ludwig
Olaf Ludwig is a former German racing cyclist. His career began at the SG Dynamo Gera/ Sportvereinigung Dynamo. As an East German, he raced as an amateur until reunification of Germany allowed him to become professional with Panasonic team...
, Walter Godefroot
Walter Godefroot
Walter Godefroot is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer and former directeur sportif of , later known as T-Mobile Team, professional team....
and Eddy Vandenhecke (managers), Luuc Eisenga (spokesperson) and Brian Holm
Brian Holm
Brian Holm Sørensen is a retired Danish professional rider in road bicycle racing from 1986 to 1998, and rode for Team Telekom from 1993 to 1997, and was part of the team that brought his fellow Dane Bjarne Riis to victory in the 1996 Tour de France...
, Valerio Piva (sports directors).
Team beginnings: 1988 – 1991
At the end of 1988, former World Champion Hennie KuiperHennie Kuiper
Hennie Kuiper is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist. His career includes a gold medal in the Olympic road race at Munich in 1972, becoming world professional road race champion in 1975, as well as winning four of the five “Monument” classics...
set up a German cycling team
Cycling team
A cycling team is a group of cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle races whether recreational or professional - and the supporting personnel...
that was sponsored by the city of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
and rode on Eddy Merckx cycles. The team was called Stuttgart-Merckx-Gonsor for the 1989 season and had nine riders (which included Udo Bölts
Udo Bölts
Udo Bölts in Rodalben is a retired German racing cyclist, the brother of Hartmut Bölts.Bölts is one of the most successful German cyclists, and from the beginning of his career he distinguished himself as a coureageous rider who liked to get into breakaways...
). At that time when there were no German cycling teams and the country's main cycling event, the Rund um den Henninger Turm had not been won by a German since Rudi Altig in 1970. During its first year of existence team rider Dariusc Kajzer brought the team its first success in the National Road Race Championships in Germany. The team became Stuttgart-Mercedes-Merckx-Puma in 1990 and Bölts continued the success of the team by becoming road race champion of Germany.
Team Telekom: 1991 – 2004
Deutsche Telekom came in as the main sponsor in 1991 and the team was known as Telekom-Mercedes-Merckx-Puma. According to an interview with Godefroot, it was Bölts’ 17th place at the 1991 Vuelta a España1991 Vuelta a España
The 46th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 29 to May 19, 1991. It consisted of 20 stages covering a total of 3215 km, and was won by Melchor Mauri of the ONCE cycling team.Miguel Induráin, Laudelino Cubino and Anselmo Fuerte...
that prompted him to accept the Telekom management’s offer to take over the running of the team. Godefroot signed several riders including Classics specialist and 1991 Paris–Roubaix winner Marc Madiot
Marc Madiot
Marc Madiot is a French former professional road racing cyclist and double winner of Paris–Roubaix. Retired from racing in 1994, he is now best known as the directeur sportif of Française des Jeux, a UCI ProTour cycling team....
. Bölts who was involved with the team since its beginnings in 1989 would stay with the team until 2003, continued building on the successes of the team by winning stage 19, the Queen stage of the 1992 Giro d'Italia
1992 Giro d'Italia
The 1992 Giro d'Italia of cycling, the 75th edition of the race, was held from 24 May to 14 June 1992. It covered a total of 3,835 km, in 22 stages, completed at an average speed of 37.017 km/h...
. Jens Heppner continued this with his tenth place overall at the 1992 Tour de France
1992 Tour de France
The 1992 Tour de France was the 79th Tour de France, taking place July 4 to July 26, 1992. The total race distance was 21 stages over 3983 km, with riders averaging 39.504 km/h...
.
The Telekom team signed all the promising cyclists that were coming from Germany at that time and who were becoming successful. These included Jens Heppner
Jens Heppner
Jens Heppner is a German former road bicycle racer. He wore the maglia rosa during 2002 Giro d'Italia. Although he rode for Telekom during ten years, he has consistently denied ever having doped.- Palmarès :...
and Christian Henn
Christian Henn
Christian Henn is a retired road racing cyclist from Germany, who won the bronze medal for West Germany in the men's individual road race at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea...
in 1992, Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel is a former German professional road bicycle racer who last raced with Milram. With over 200 professional wins he is considered by some one of the greatest German cyclists and best cycling sprinters of history...
, Rolf Aldag
Rolf Aldag
Rolf Aldag is a former professional road bicycle racer who rode for Team Telekom from 1993 to 2005. He has raced in 10 Tour de France, 1 Giro d'Italia and 5 Vuelta a España...
and Steffen Wesemann
Steffen Wesemann
Steffen Wesemann is a retired professional road racing cyclist. Wesemann most recently rode for the professional continental team Cycle Collstrop after riding a year with the Team Wiesenhof-Felt squad. He had previously spent the other years of his career at Telekom who later became Team T-Mobile...
in 1993 and Jan Ullrich
Jan Ullrich
Jan Ullrich is a German former professional road bicycle racer. In 1997, he was the first German to win the Tour de France. He went on to take five second places and a fourth in 2004 and third in 2005. He is considered one of the best time-trialists in the history of the sport...
in 1994. Many of these riders would ride for more than ten years with the team. Olaf Ludwig
Olaf Ludwig
Olaf Ludwig is a former German racing cyclist. His career began at the SG Dynamo Gera/ Sportvereinigung Dynamo. As an East German, he raced as an amateur until reunification of Germany allowed him to become professional with Panasonic team...
also signed in 1993 and finished his career with the team. In 1994, Zabel won the first UCI Road World Cup victory in the history of the team, the Paris–Tours.
In 1993 the team again achieved success in the national championship road race in Germany. This was the start of the team’s 11 year domination and possession of the German champion’s jersey. Many of the successful team riders that spent many years of their career with Telekom would become German national champions – Bernd Gröne in 1993, Jens Heppner in 1994, Bölts in 1990, 1995 and 1999, Christian Henn in 1996, Jan Ullrich in 1997 and 2001, Erik Zabel in 1998 and 2003, Rolf Aldag in 2000, Danilo Hondo in 2002 and finally Andreas Klöden in 2004.
The team soon became an important presence on the international cycling stage. However the team was not invited to the 1995 Tour de France
1995 Tour de France
The 1995 Tour de France was the 82nd Tour de France, taking place July 1 to July 23, 1995. It was Miguel Indurain's fifth and final victory in the Tour. On the fifteenth stage Italian rider Fabio Casartelli died after an accident on the Col de Portet d'Aspet....
. Eventually the organisers of the Tour agreed that six Telekom members, namely Rolf Aldag, Udo Bölts, Jens Heppner, Vladimir Pulnikov, Erik Zabel and Olaf Ludwig, would be joined with three members of the ZG Mobili to form a composite team. Zabel went on to win two stages in the race.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
rider Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis , nicknamed The Eagle from Herning , is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who placed first in the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team Saxo Bank Sungard...
, the third place finisher of the 1995 Tour and he went on to win the 1996 Tour de France
1996 Tour de France
The 1996 Tour de France was the 83rd Tour de France, starting on June 29 and ending on July 21, featuring 19 regular stages, 2 individual time trials, a prologue and a rest day ....
, with the then 22-year old German support rider Jan Ullrich
Jan Ullrich
Jan Ullrich is a German former professional road bicycle racer. In 1997, he was the first German to win the Tour de France. He went on to take five second places and a fourth in 2004 and third in 2005. He is considered one of the best time-trialists in the history of the sport...
finishing in second place. In addition, Zabel won the first of six green jerseys for winning the points competition. Bolts won the Clásica de San Sebastián and Wesemann won his second and the first of four wins with the Telekom team of the famous stage race the Peace Race.
The 1997 Tour de France
1997 Tour de France
The 1997 Tour de France was the 84th Tour de France, it took place July 5–27, 1997. Jan Ullrich's victory margin, of 9' 09" was the largest margin of victory since Laurent Fignon won the 1984 Tour de France by 10' 32"...
saw the emergence of Ullrich as he won the race with support from Riis, who in turn had won the World Cup race Amstel Gold Race
Amstel Gold Race
The Amstel Gold Race is a road bicycle race held in the southern part of the province of Limburg, Netherlands. Since 1989 it has been among the races included in season long rankings tables, as part of the UCI Road World Cup , the UCI ProTour , UCI World Ranking and from 2011 the UCI World Tour...
earlier in 1997. Team Telekom also won the team classification, as the overall strongest team of the 1997 Tour. In addition, Bolts won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Zabel won Milan – San Remo for the first of four times with the team. Ullrich also won the Championships of Hamburg semi-classic. The following year this race was elevated to the status of World Cup. In addition the Deutschland Tour returned in 1999 – evidence of the continuing popularity of cycling in Germany at the time. While Ullrich had a crash in the race and was forced to retire, Team Telekom did win the first edition of the race with Heppner and would win the race again with Alexander Vinokourov
Alexander Vinokourov
Alexander Nikolaevich Vinokourov, also written Alexandre Vinokourov, is an ethnically Russian Kazakhstani professional road bicycle racer who currently competes with the UCI ProTeam Astana...
in 2001.
Ullrich finished second in the 1998 Tour de France
1998 Tour de France
The 1998 Tour de France, also called the Tour du Dopage , was marred by doping scandals throughout known as the Festina affair, starting with the arrest of Willy Voet, a soigneur in the French Festina team. Voet was traveling into France when he was arrested and found with large quantities of...
but went on to win the 1999 Vuelta a España
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...
, although he missed the 1999 Tour de France
1999 Tour de France
The 1999 Tour de France was the 86th Tour de France, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 1999. It was won by Lance Armstrong, his first of 7 consecutive wins, the most in Tour history. There were no French stage winners for the first time since the 1926 Tour de France.The 1999 edition of Tour de...
due to a knee injury. After winning the Vuelta, Ullrich became World time trial champion which enabled him to wear the rainbow jersey during time trials. He would win this again in 2001. The next year, Zabel won the overall World Cup victory, having won the Milan – San Remo and Amstel Gold Race, while Ullrich placed second again in the 2000 Tour de France
2000 Tour de France
The 2000 Tour de France was the 87th Tour de France, and took place from July 1 to July 23, 2000. It was won by American cyclist Lance Armstrong. The Tour started with an individual time trial in Futuroscope and ended traditionally in Paris. The distance travelled was 3662.5 km...
to Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
. Ullrich won the gold medal in the Olympic road race and the silver medal in the Olympic time trial. In 2001, Zabel won Milan – San Remo for the fourth time. Ullrich came in second in the 2001 Tour de France
2001 Tour de France
The 2001 Tour de France was particularly difficult, having contained a 67-km long team time trial, two individual time trials and five mountain-top finishes on consecutive days, the second of which being the Chamrousse special category climb time trial. Thus, all the high-mountain stages were...
, while Zabel won six stages combined in the 2001 Tour and Vuelta. Kazakh
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
rider Alexandre Vinokourov won the Paris–Nice stage race in 2002, a feat he would duplicate in 2003, also winning the Amstel Gold Race and Tour de Suisse
Tour de Suisse
The Tour de Suisse is a UCI World Tour stage race held annually in June. The race debuted in 1933 and has evolved in timing, duration and sponsorship. With the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is a proving ground for the Tour de France, and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...
that year. As Ullrich left the team to form Team Bianchi
Team Bianchi
Team Bianchi was a makeshift team that was put together from the remnants of the Coast team in time for the 2003 Tour de France.Team Coast had been unable to pay the salaries of their riders and Bianchi took over the team and the role of title sponsor. Coast had recently signed Jan Ullrich...
in 2003, Vinokourov became team leader for the 2003 Tour de France
2003 Tour de France
The 2003 Tour de France started and ended in Paris. Lasting from July 5 to July 27 the race covered 3,427.5 km , proceeding clockwise in twenty stages around France, including six major mountain stages...
. He finished in third place, just below the second placed Ullrich. Zabel won the 2003 Paris–Tours, while Italian rider Daniele Nardello
Daniele Nardello
Daniele Nardello is a retired Italian professional road racing cyclist. His career ran from 1994 to 2009, with highlights including winning the 2001 Italian national road race championship, the 2003 Züri-Metzgete, and three straight top-10 finishes and one stage win at the Tour de France.- Major...
took the Züri-Metzgete.
The team had a continuous presence at the top of the professional peloton and continued to sign the emerging German cyclists of the times with Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden is a German professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His major achievements include a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and second place in the 2004 Tour de France and 2006 Tour de France...
in 1998, Jörg Jaksche
Jörg Jaksche
Jörg Jaksche is a German road bicycle racer.He has been cycling professionally since 1997, racing for the teams Polti , Team Telekom , ONCE , CSC , Liberty Seguros-Würth/Astana and Tinkoff Credit Systems in 2007.In 2004, he won the Tour Mediterranean and the Paris–Nice race.In the 2005 Tour de...
in 1999, Matthias Kessler in 2000 and Stefan Schumacher in 2002 to name but a few. In addition the team signed many successful non-German riders such as Georg Totschnig
Georg Totschnig
Georg Totschnig is an Austrian former road bicycle racer who raced professionally between 1993 and 2006.-Career:In 1989, Totschnig became the Junior Austrian National Time Trial Champion. He turned professional with the Italian Lampre - Polti team in 1993, remaining with the team in 1994 when...
, Alexander Vinokourov
Alexander Vinokourov
Alexander Nikolaevich Vinokourov, also written Alexandre Vinokourov, is an ethnically Russian Kazakhstani professional road bicycle racer who currently competes with the UCI ProTeam Astana...
, Cadel Evans
Cadel Evans
Cadel Lee Evans is an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in...
, Santiago Botero
Santiago Botero
Santiago Botero Echeverry is a Colombian former professional road bicycle racer. He was a pro from 1996 to 2010, during which time he raced in three editions of the Tour de France and four editions of the Vuelta a España...
and Paolo Savoldelli
Paolo Savoldelli
Paolo Savoldelli is an Italian former road racing cyclist and winner of the 2002 and 2005 Giro d'Italia....
.
Film: Hell on Wheels – 2003 Tour de France from perspective of then-Team Telekom
In 2005 a film titled Hell on Wheels was released. It is a record of the 100th anniversary (but only the 90th running because of World War I and World War II) of the Tour de FranceTour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
in 2003 from the perspective of the then-Team Telekom.
T-Mobile: 2004 – November 2007
2004 Tour de France
The 2004 Tour de France was the 91st, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 2004. It consisted of 20 stages over 3391 km.Lance Armstrong became the first to win six Tours de France. Armstrong had been favored to win, his competitors seen as being German Jan Ullrich, Spaniards Roberto Heras and...
, Kloden became German road race champion and Ullrich won the Tour de Suisse
Tour de Suisse
The Tour de Suisse is a UCI World Tour stage race held annually in June. The race debuted in 1933 and has evolved in timing, duration and sponsorship. With the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is a proving ground for the Tour de France, and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...
and raced the 2004 Tour de France
2004 Tour de France
The 2004 Tour de France was the 91st, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 2004. It consisted of 20 stages over 3391 km.Lance Armstrong became the first to win six Tours de France. Armstrong had been favored to win, his competitors seen as being German Jan Ullrich, Spaniards Roberto Heras and...
as team leader, while Vinokourov did not ride the Tour de France for the team. Jan Ullrich finished fourth, while Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden is a German professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His major achievements include a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and second place in the 2004 Tour de France and 2006 Tour de France...
was the best placed rider of the team in second place. T-Mobile Team won the team classification, as the overall strongest team of the 2004 Tour. In the spring season of 2005, Vinokourov won the Liège–Bastogne–Liège classic race. Ullrich, as the team leader, finished 3rd overall in the 2005 Tour de France
2005 Tour de France
The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd Tour de France, taking place from July 2 to July 24, 2005. It comprised 21 stages over 3592.5 km, the winner's average speed was 41.654 km/h. The first stages were held in the département of the Vendée, for the third time in 12 years. The 2005 Tour was...
. Alexandre Vinokourov rode in support, and finished fifth as he won two stages, including the final stage on the Champs-Elysees
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
. Italian rider Giuseppe Guerini
Giuseppe Guerini
Giuseppe Guerini is an Italian professional road bicycle racer.A native of Gazzaniga, Lombardy, he currently rides with the T-Mobile Team and has done so since 1999. He has, however, been a professional cyclist since 1993 - being a member of two other teams: Navigare and Polti...
also won a stage and T-Mobile Team matched their 2004 feat by once again winning the team classification in 2005. Zabel won the Paris–Tours for the third time at the end of the season.
In July 2005, during the 2005 Tour, Vinokourov's contract was running out and speculation was abundant if he was to stay with T-Mobile. With four days left of the 2005 Tour, he made an announcement that he would leave the team to pursue his own chances of winning the Tour de France as a team captain and after the Tour he joined the Liberty Seguros team. After 13 years with Team Telekom and T-Mobile Team, Erik Zabel also left in 2005 to ride for the newly formed Team Milram
Team MILRAM
Team Milram was a German pro cycling team, participating at the UCI ProTour.The pro cycling team was founded in the beginning of 2006, taking over the UCI ProTeam license of Team Domina Vacanze. The main sponsor is the Milram brand of the Bremen based Nordmilch company...
. Before the 2006 season, Walter Godefroot stepped down and Olaf Ludwig became the new T-Mobile team manager.
Doping scandals: 2006 – 2007
In the most controversial scandal since the 1998 tour1998 Tour de France
The 1998 Tour de France, also called the Tour du Dopage , was marred by doping scandals throughout known as the Festina affair, starting with the arrest of Willy Voet, a soigneur in the French Festina team. Voet was traveling into France when he was arrested and found with large quantities of...
, thirteen riders were expelled from the 2006 Tour de France
2006 Tour de France
The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd Tour de France, taking place from July 1 to July 23, 2006. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of apparent winner Floyd Landis....
stemming from a Spanish doping scandal
Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto is the code name of a Spanish Police operation against the doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, started in May 2006, which resulted in a scandal that involved several of the world most famous cyclists at the time.Media attention has focused on the small number of...
, on the eve of Strasbourg prologue to the 93rd edition. Jan Ullrich, one of the favorites to win the race, was among those excluded from the Tour. Another T-Mobile rider, Oscar Sevilla
Oscar Sevilla
Óscar Miguel Sevilla Ribera , nicknamed El Niño, is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer. He is a climber with a pedigree in stage races, having finished in the top ten of the Tour de France and Vuelta a España several times...
, was also expelled, leaving the team starting with only seven riders.
On July 9, the team announced the dismissal of its sporting director, Rudy Pevenage, for his implication with former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich in a Spanish blood doping
Blood doping
Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity and...
scandal. "The contract linking T-Mobile to Pevenage has been retrospectively stopped on June 30," the team's general manager, Olaf Ludwig, said.
On July 21, 2006, T-Mobile fired Jan Ullrich from the team pending the doping investigation.
At the 2006 Tour de France
2006 Tour de France
The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd Tour de France, taking place from July 1 to July 23, 2006. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of apparent winner Floyd Landis....
, T-Mobile won the team classification for the third consecutive year, Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden is a German professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His major achievements include a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and second place in the 2004 Tour de France and 2006 Tour de France...
reached the podium (3rd place) for the second time, Matthias Kessler
Matthias Kessler
Matthias Kessler , is a German professional road racing cyclist who rode for .Kessler debuted as a pro during the 2000 season after becoming German under 23 champion in 1999, a year in which he also took the bronze medal in the under 23 cycling world championships...
won Stage 3, Serhiy Honchar
Serhiy Honchar
Serhiy Honchar is a Ukrainian former professional road racing cyclist. He is a former world time trial champion. In the 2006 Tour de France, Honchar lead the general classification after a time-trial win in stage 7....
won two individual time trial
Individual time trial
An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
s (Stages 7 and 19) and wore the yellow jersey
Yellow jersey
The general classification in the Tour de France is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey .-History:...
for 3 days (after Stages 7–9).
After the Tour de France, the team completely changed; Team manager Olaf Ludwig
Olaf Ludwig
Olaf Ludwig is a former German racing cyclist. His career began at the SG Dynamo Gera/ Sportvereinigung Dynamo. As an East German, he raced as an amateur until reunification of Germany allowed him to become professional with Panasonic team...
left the team and was replaced by Bob Stapleton
Bob Stapleton
Bob Stapleton is an American entrepreneur and the team owner of cycling team . Stapleton was previously the team manager of when it was known as...
. Rolf Aldag
Rolf Aldag
Rolf Aldag is a former professional road bicycle racer who rode for Team Telekom from 1993 to 2005. He has raced in 10 Tour de France, 1 Giro d'Italia and 5 Vuelta a España...
, Allan Peiper
Allan Peiper
Allan Peiper is a former Australian road cyclist, who competed in five Tour De France races, with the last being the 1992 Tour de France. He is now a directeur sportif with Team Columbia....
and Tristan Hoffman
Tristan Hoffman
Tristan Henri Christiaan Hoffman is a former road racing cyclist from the Netherlands. Since early 2007 he is a directeur sportif for .-Major results:199119921993...
became directeur sportifs. As already discussed Ullrich, Sevilla and Pevenage were dismissed from the team. Several riders who had been with the team for a long time such as Steffen Wesemann
Steffen Wesemann
Steffen Wesemann is a retired professional road racing cyclist. Wesemann most recently rode for the professional continental team Cycle Collstrop after riding a year with the Team Wiesenhof-Felt squad. He had previously spent the other years of his career at Telekom who later became Team T-Mobile...
, Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden is a German professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His major achievements include a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and second place in the 2004 Tour de France and 2006 Tour de France...
and Matthias Kessler
Matthias Kessler
Matthias Kessler , is a German professional road racing cyclist who rode for .Kessler debuted as a pro during the 2000 season after becoming German under 23 champion in 1999, a year in which he also took the bronze medal in the under 23 cycling world championships...
left or their contracts were not extended. Jörg Ludewig was put on suspension and his contract was not increased in connection with intention to dope previously in his career and before he joined T-Mobile. Eddy Mazzoleni
Eddy Mazzoleni
Eddy Mazzoleni is an Italian professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI ProTour Astana Team....
who was in his first year for the team would also leave. The contracts of Bram Schmitz and Bas Gilling were not renewed. Dr. Lothar Heinrich, the team doctor since 1995, and Dr. Andreas Schmid set up a new comprehensive testing system. Following the revelations that came out of the Operación Puerto investigation, Heinrich allegedly nearly quit the sport but instead he joined with Stapleton and other team staff to create a new system of internal controls and health checks that he insisted would demonstrate that T-Mobile riders were clean and to restore credibility to the sport.
In May 2007, several former riders admitted to using banned substances (including EPO
Erythropoietin
Erythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...
) while riding for the team in the mid 1990s, including Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel is a former German professional road bicycle racer who last raced with Milram. With over 200 professional wins he is considered by some one of the greatest German cyclists and best cycling sprinters of history...
, Rolf Aldag
Rolf Aldag
Rolf Aldag is a former professional road bicycle racer who rode for Team Telekom from 1993 to 2005. He has raced in 10 Tour de France, 1 Giro d'Italia and 5 Vuelta a España...
, Brian Holm
Brian Holm
Brian Holm Sørensen is a retired Danish professional rider in road bicycle racing from 1986 to 1998, and rode for Team Telekom from 1993 to 1997, and was part of the team that brought his fellow Dane Bjarne Riis to victory in the 1996 Tour de France...
, Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis , nicknamed The Eagle from Herning , is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who placed first in the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team Saxo Bank Sungard...
, Bert Dietz, Udo Bölts
Udo Bölts
Udo Bölts in Rodalben is a retired German racing cyclist, the brother of Hartmut Bölts.Bölts is one of the most successful German cyclists, and from the beginning of his career he distinguished himself as a coureageous rider who liked to get into breakaways...
and Christian Henn
Christian Henn
Christian Henn is a retired road racing cyclist from Germany, who won the bronze medal for West Germany in the men's individual road race at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea...
including the seasons in which Riis and Ullrich won the Tour de France. Team doctors Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich also confessed to participating and administering banned substances. The latter was Team Telekom's sporting director until May 3, 2007 when he was suspended following allegations published in former team member Jef d'Hont's book.
In an effort to present a renewed image the team brought a young team to the 2007 Tour de France
2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...
, and promoted a drug-free attitude and image. Despite this, team member Patrik Sinkewitz
Patrik Sinkewitz
Patrik Sinkewitz is a professional German road racing cyclist for . He is a climbing specialist who can ride well over a stage race, as in winning the 2004 nine-stage Deutschland Tour. He has also ridden well in one-day races such as Liège–Bastogne–Liège, which he finished in the top 10 in 2006...
tested positive for elevated testosterone during a training camp. The test results were only announced when Sinkiewitz had dropped out of the Tour because of injury. He was still in hospital when he was suspended from Team T-Mobile, and was dismissed on July 31, 2007.
Team High Road: November 2007 – June 2008
In November 2007, Deutsche Telekom AG announced that it was to end sponsorship of professional cycling with immediate effect. The team continued under the name "Team High Road" through June 2008. The team changed nationality in February 2008, switching from Germany to the United States.The team continued thanks to funding solely from the team owner Bob Stapleton, as the team did not have enough time to gather sponsors for the new year. The team had a successful start to the year with Luxembourg rider Kim Kirchen
Kim Kirchen
Kim Kirchen is a former Luxembourg road racing cyclist.-Career:Kirchen signed as a professional cyclist in 2000 with De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa, and went on to join in 2001...
winning the classic La Flèche Wallonne. Results like this and also High-Road's performance at the Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...
helped the team secure a sponsor for the end of the year
Team Columbia and Team Columbia-High Road: July 2008 – June 2009
On June 15, 2008 Columbia SportswearColumbia Sportswear
Columbia Sportswear Company is a United States company that manufactures and distributes outerwear and sportswear. It was founded in 1938 by the late Paul Lamfrom, father of present chairperson Gert Boyle. The company is headquartered in Washington County, Oregon, in an unincorporated part of the...
announced a three year sponsorship of the team beginning on July 5, the start of the Tour de France
2008 Tour de France
The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th Tour de France. The event took place from 5–27 July 2008. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which was reached in the 21st stage...
. The team's new name is "Team Columbia". The sponsorship includes both the men's and women's teams. The announcement of this new deal with Columbia coincided with a highly successful Tour, in which the team won 5 individual stages (four of which went to British sprinter Mark Cavendish
Mark Cavendish
Mark Cavendish MBE is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTeam until the end of this season when the team is dissolved. He will join Team Sky at the start of the 2012 season...
) as well as team leader Kim Kirchen
Kim Kirchen
Kim Kirchen is a former Luxembourg road racing cyclist.-Career:Kirchen signed as a professional cyclist in 2000 with De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa, and went on to join in 2001...
leading the general classification in the Tour de France for four days in addition to leading the points classification in the Tour de France
Points classification in the Tour de France
The points classification in the Tour de France is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, that started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and these are recorded in a points classification. It is considered a sprinters' competition...
.
The team capped off a successful 2008 by finishing second to Team CSC
Team CSC
Team Saxo Bank-SunGard is a professional cycling team from Denmark. It competes in the UCI ProTour. The team is owned and managed by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis, under the management of his company Riis Cycling. The sponsor is a Danish investment bank.Founded for 1998 Team home – Jack...
in the CQ Team Ranking.
Team Columbia-HTC: June 2009 – January 2010 & Team HTC-Columbia: January 2010 – 2011
On June 29, 2009 HTC announced a three year sponsorship of the team beginning with the 2009 Tour de FranceTour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
. The team's new name is "Team Columbia-HTC." Like the Columbia Sportswear
Columbia Sportswear
Columbia Sportswear Company is a United States company that manufactures and distributes outerwear and sportswear. It was founded in 1938 by the late Paul Lamfrom, father of present chairperson Gert Boyle. The company is headquartered in Washington County, Oregon, in an unincorporated part of the...
sponsorship, the HTC sponsorship includes both the men's and women's teams. The team enjoyed great success at the 2009 Tour de France
2009 Tour de France
The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco...
with Mark Cavendish
Mark Cavendish
Mark Cavendish MBE is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTeam until the end of this season when the team is dissolved. He will join Team Sky at the start of the 2012 season...
winning 6 stages over the course of the 3 weeks. The most memorable of these was his victory on the Champs-Élysées
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
in Paris where he won by a huge margin; almost 30m, with his own lead out man, Mark Renshaw
Mark Renshaw
Mark Renshaw is an Australian racing cyclist with UCI ProTeam , who is considered one of the best lead-out men in the world.- Early career :...
having enough time to come in 2nd with his arms raised. A documentary film called Chasing Legends
Chasing Legends
Chasing Legends is a documentary film covering the events of the 2009 Tour de France from the perspective of . It premiered at the cinema in May 2010 in the US and October 2010 in the UK....
was later released that covered the 2009 tour through the eyes of HTC-Columbia.
August proved a very good month for Norwegian allrounder Edvald Boasson Hagen
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Edvald Boasson Hagen is a Norwegian professional road racing cyclist riding for the UCI ProTour team . He is the Norwegian Time Trial Champion and also considered as one of the biggest rising talents in the sport, being ranked as no...
, with two stage wins and a podium finish in the Tour of Poland
2009 Tour de Pologne
The 2009 Tour de Pologne was the 66th running of the Tour de Pologne, in the 81st year since the first edition. The event was part of both the 2009 UCI ProTour and the inaugural World Calendar, and ran from 2–8 August, starting in Warsaw and finishing in Kraków.After four stages that were...
and two more stage wins and the GC win in the Eneco Tour
2009 Eneco Tour
The 2009 Eneco Tour of Benelux was the fifth edition of the Eneco Tour of Benelux cycling stage race. It took place from 18 August to 25 August 2009 in the Benelux. Like the previous years, parts of the Netherlands and Belgium were covered. It was part of the inaugural UCI World Ranking...
. After stage wins in the other two Grand Tours of 2009, it took the team only three days to win yet another in the Vuelta
2009 Vuelta a España
The 2009 Vuelta a España was the 64th Vuelta a España. The event took place from 29 August to 20 September 2009. For only the second time in the race's history, it began away from Spanish soil, with the race not in fact reaching Spain until Stage 5....
, where Gregory Henderson took home the flowers.
Despite its many successes, Team Columbia does not seem to be able to afford as many top riders as they have, and due to their many victories, a lot of riders were targeted by other teams for the 2010 season. Notable riders such as Kim Kirchen
Kim Kirchen
Kim Kirchen is a former Luxembourg road racing cyclist.-Career:Kirchen signed as a professional cyclist in 2000 with De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa, and went on to join in 2001...
, Edvald Boasson Hagen
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Edvald Boasson Hagen is a Norwegian professional road racing cyclist riding for the UCI ProTour team . He is the Norwegian Time Trial Champion and also considered as one of the biggest rising talents in the sport, being ranked as no...
, Michael Barry
Michael Barry (cyclist)
Michael Barry is a Canadian professional road racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team .Previous to riding for UCI ProTour team he spent several years with the . He also raced of the Saturn Cycling Team for a number of years before going to US Postal Service/Discovery. He was born and raised in...
, George Hincapie
George Hincapie
George Hincapié Garcés is an American professional road bicycle racer currently riding for UCI ProTeam . Hincapie resides in Greenville, South Carolina...
and Thomas Lövkvist
Thomas Lövkvist
Thomas Löfkvist is a Swedish professional road bicycle racer riding for the UCI ProTour . He became the youngest Swedish professional road bicycle racer when he started his professional bicycling career in at the age of 19 in 2004...
elected to leave the team. As replacements, a lot of young talented riders, such as Jan Ghyselinck, Rasmus Guldhammer and Martin
Martin Velits
Martin Velits is a Slovak road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team , alongside his twin brother Peter Velits.-Palmares:20042005- External links :*...
and Peter Velits
Peter Velits
Peter Velits is a Slovak professional road racing cyclist for . His career highlights include winning the 2007 UCI Road World Championships - Men's Under-23 Road Race. His twin brother, Martin Velits rides on as well. In 2012 Martin and Peter will be riding for Quick-Step .- Palmares:2003...
, were contracted.
On October 17, 2010 Team Columbia HTC announced a tie up with Specialized
Specialized Bicycle Components
Specialized Bicycle Components, more commonly known simply as Specialized, is a major American brand of bicycles and related products. It was founded in 1974 by Mike Sinyard and is based in Morgan Hill, California-History:...
for 2011 and beyond. Specialized will supply the team‘s frames, forks, and helmets. The men will race the S-Works Tarmac for most road races, the S-Works Roubaix for cobbled classics, and the Shiv TT in time trials. The all-new S-Works Prevail and TT3 helmets will protect the riders in road and TT applications, respectively.
On August 4, 2011 General Manager Bob Stapleton announced that Team HTC-Highroad are set to fold at the end of the 2011 season
2011 HTC-Highroad season
The 2011 season for began in January at the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Chrono des Nations. As a UCI ProTeam, they are automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour...
after failing to find a new sponsor.