The life and times of Cycling Team HTC-Highroad

The home of such starts as Mark Cavendish, Tony Martin and the Veilits brothers and such personalities as Bernie Eisel and Matthew Goss; the team who have brought new life to the professional peloton will now cease to be active in the cycling world as of the end of the current season after failing to find a replacement sponsor.

From the team managers to the headline riders and domestiques, Highroad have always been at the fore of all things cycling. Their dominant women’s team always topping result sheets and their men’s team racking up countless grand tour stage wins and other accolades, too numerous to mention. As an avid fan of HTC and many of their riders, I thought it only fitting to pay a little tribute to a team who brought new ideas, concepts and renewed life into professional cycling.

The background

Team Highroad was formed from the remnants of the T-Mobile Pro Cycling team (previously Team Telekom), which had featured such riders as Jan Ullrich, Lance Armstrong’s ever present rival at the Tour de France, as well as Andreas Kloden and even Cadel Evans. A series of issues within the then rather shady cycling world led to T-Mobile withdrawing from their sponsorship commitments in November 2007, leaving the squad without major financial backing and thence facing a somewhat uncertain future.

Under the guidance and financial investment of Bob Stapleton, the team manager, the squad continued into the 2008 season under the name Team Highroad; the name was taken from the management company. On June the 15^th 2008, Oregon based sportswear firm Columbia took over as the title sponsor, providing a much needed cash injection into the team. A year later a second title sponsor, HTC came on board, and Stapelton and his staff continued the building of a world class team, who at the time of writing had tallied an incredible 484 wins in 3 years.

The Team

Now to the riders; HTC boasts some of the peloton’s most experienced and talented riders, from Mark Cavendish to Marco Pinotti; Alex Rasmussen to Frantisek Rabon and Mark Renshaw to Hayden Roulston. The multi-faceted and international team is capable of performing in races from Grand Tours to century old Classics and beyond. Cavendish’s unprecedented 20 Tour de France stage wins in 4 years, along with 7 Giro stages and 3 in the Vuelta are due in no small part to role played by his loyal team mates.

Great teams start as great friends

Highroad’s ethos is centred entirely around the concept that you can always work harder for a friend than for a team mate, and to this end the team are not only highly cohesive but also great friends. This is evident when watching any race where an HTC rider triumphs, there’s never a private pumping of fists beyond the line, its always a chaotic scene of team orientated revelry, hugs and congratulations; this isn’t to say that other team don’t do this, but it’s especially noticeable with HTC.

Female Cyclists

HTC has also helped drive forward the media visibility of women’s cycling. Women’s cycling is often overlooked by the media, certainly in the UK, who don’t seem to appreciate that racing is just as gripping, just as exciting and just as competitive as the men’s side. Highroad’s dominant women’s team contest some of the highest level races in the world and thanks to the integration with the men’s team are given the same treatment and access to equipment as the men, that smaller teams would not be able to afford.

So thank you Team Highroad: the riders, the mechanics, the masseurs, the managers. All of the team members, sponsors and supporters who helped the team through thick and thin to provide us with great racing, great stories and great personalities.

Picture via Jean Pickard Art