Altedo Malalbergo, France, 8 July 2008 – In their first tour in the new Columbia colours, the First Endurance sponsored Team Columbia women’s team has won three consecutive races in the Giro d’Italia Femminile this week.  Sprinter Ina-Yoko Teutenberg took out the first three stages in bunch sprints, earning the leader’s maglia rosa. Teutenberg now leads the tour by 17 seconds over Kirsten Wild (AA Drink).

“It feels pretty unreal to get the hat trick,” said Teutenberg.  “I can’t believe it but I’m definitely happy about it. For sure though, it will be a different story tomorrow and another girl will be in pink.  Tomorrow’s stage climbs twice up the famous Monte Serra and finishes at the top after 106km of racing. No matter how hard I try, it will be a different race tomorrow,” added Teutenberg.

Team Director Ronny Lauke was also pleased. “It’s quite hard to do it three days in a row,” he said. “The girls were great and I’m proud they pulled of the triple amongst such a strong field.”