First Endurance sponsored rider Mark Cavendish got second today in Stage 7 of the Vuelta a Espana and now leads the points classification in the race.

Points classification
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team HTC-Columbia 56 pts
2 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Transitions 53
3 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 51

Check back later for a full report

First Endurance rider Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (HTC-Columbia) powered to her 22nd victory of the 2010 season in the Holland Ladies Tour, narrowly defeating Netherlands rider Marianne Vos in a bunch sprint. Teutenberg’s victory in the opening stage, a 112.4-kilometre stage in the city of Neunen Gerwen, also earned the HTC-Columbia rider the overall lead.

“Ina was a little uncertain of her condition because she hasn’t raced for a while, but she proved today she’s in great form,” said HTC-Columbia Sports Director Rene Wenzel. “Once it became clear it was going to be a bunch sprint, we worked hard for Ina to make sure she had her chance. It was a very tricky, technical stage, with a very technical finish that strung the riders out and the sprint was very close, but Ina got it.”

Teutenberg took third overall in the same race last year, in which she also won a stage. Wenzel commented, “Ina has a five-second advantage, which is pretty slim, but last year the race was won by just a couple of seconds so we’ll do what we can. Looking further ahead, too, to the World Championships this September, this is a very encouraging result for Ina.”

Teutenberg’s HTC-Columbia teammate Evelyn Stevens was unlucky enough to crash in the race, about 20 kilometres from the finish, injuring her elbow. As a precaution, the American rider was taken to a nearby hospital for an x-ray and exam, which concluded to be clear of fractures.

First Endurance rider Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) used his time trial strength to the confirm overall victory in the Eneco Tour on Tuesday as he surged an emphatic win in the race’s last individual time trial in Genk, Belgium.
Already the fastest at the time trial’s intermediate checkpoint, Martin finally came close to averaging 50 kilometres an hour on the short but very technical course, which he completed with a time of 20 minutes and 24 seconds.

The HTC-Columbia rider finished six seconds ahead of Dutchman Maarten Tjallingii on the stage and increased his overall advantage on second-placed Koos Moerenout of Holland to 31 seconds.

“Winning the last time trial is a truly perfect way of ending the race, and it will keep me really motivated for the final part of the year,” Martin said. “It’s a great feeling to have taken such an important win, and I’m now on track for my next few targets.”

“I’ll ease back a little bit now, and then start my final build-up for the World Championships Time Trial in Australia with a ride in the Tour of Britain. I can’t say what will happen in the World Championships, and it’ll be hard to beat [defending champion] Fabian Cancellara, but I’ve been working hard on my time trialling and we’ll see how it goes.”

“What impressed me the most about Tony was how he turned around after the Tour de France and came back to do so well here,” added HTC-Columbia sports director Brian Holm. “We talked about his ambitions and didn’t know whether he would be so good, but once he got in the break where he took the lead, we knew he had a chance. However, for sure we didn’t take anything for granted.”

“One stage went over part of the Amstel Gold race course, another used part of Fleche Wallone and then today we knew Moerenhout is a strong time triallist so we went all out right to the very end.”

The Eneco Tour is Martin’s first overall win in a ProTour course and his fifth of the 2010 season.

Final general classification

1 Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC – Columbia 28:50:57
2 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:31
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:01:46

First Endurance rider Andre Greipel (HTC-Columbia) took his second stage victory at this year’s Eneco Tour as teammate Tony Martin moved one step closer to overall victory in the UCI ProTour stage race.   Like the rest of his teammates, Greipel worked hard all day to help Martin defend his race lead on the hilly stage in the Ardennes but still had the speed to win the sprint in Heers.

He was well placed in the final kilometre despite some late attacks and then burst past Edvald Boasson Hagen to win by more than a bike length. Belgium’s Jurgen Roelandts also went past Boasson Hagen to finish second.   It was the the 52nd victory for the HTC-Columbia team in 2010.

“This is a very special victory for me,” Greipel said proudly. “It was a hard stage and not really suited to the sprinters. I was seriously struggling to stay in the peloton after working to help Toy Martin hold the lead. With 10km to go to the finish, I went back to the team car and they told me to save myself for the sprint. I was really hurting but fortunately I had a little bit left and it was enough to win.”

Tony Martin picked up some precious bonus seconds during the stage to extend his overall lead to 11 seconds on Koos Moerenhout before Tuesday’s final 16.9km time trial stage around Genk.

Brief results
1 André Greipel (Ger) Team HTC – Columbia
2 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team

After the arduous Park City Crit, only 86 of the 120 riders took the start for Sunday’s 164K mountainous queen stage. First Endurance rider Ian Boswell (BISSELL) endured the challenging course to join Levi Leipheimer (Mellow Johnny’s) and last year’s winner, Francisco Mancebo (Canyon Bicycles)  on the final podium.  In addition, Ian also won the ‘Best Young Rider’ competition.

The day got started with a large breakaway of 16 riders including 2 BISSELL’s, Frank Pipp and Pete Latham. The group held a steady tempo over Deer Lake Reservoir into Midway Valley and toward Tipanoga Mountain. The battle for the intermediate sprints kept the action in the lead group steady with David Tanner (Fly V) and Taylor Phinney (Trek Livestrong) battling for the points. The Alpine loop saw the reshuffling of the lead group and as the break neared the KOM only 6 riders survived. At the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon, Jai Crawford (Fly V) attacked out of the front group and only Marc DeMaar (United Healthcare) followed. Crawford gradually increased speed on the climb and eventually dropped DeMaar. Meanwhile, the peloton entered Little Cottonwood 2 minutes behind the leaders. Leipheimer’s battle with Mancebo in the chase group reduced the gap but shattered the group. Ian found his rhythm to hold his pace steady with the leaders up the climb. With the Snowbird finish in sight, Leipheimer increased his speed to drop Mancebo and close in on the leader, Crawford. The two approached the line together with Crawford taking the stage win and Leipheimer securing the overall win. Mancebo came across 1 minute back to claim 3rd for the stage and 2nd overall. Ian crossed in 8th place and was only 1:21 behind Leipheimer. His outstanding race locked him in for 3rd place, overall, and retained the best young rider jersey.