Hayden Roulston is back in action for his team HTC-Columbia at the Tour de Suisse which starts this Saturday in Lugano, Switzerland.
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| Hayden Roulston (Photo: Marin de Ruyter / Nelson Mail / Enthuse) |
After a training camp in the French Alps where stages seven, eight and nine were checked out for the Tour de France, the team has turned its focus to its final tune up events before selecting its final line up for the Tour de France.
HTC-Columbia is targeting stage victories in the nine-day Swiss race. Last year the team won six stages of the Tour de Suisse with five different riders.
After a very strong showing in the gruelling one day classic race Paris-Roubaix in April where he finished 10th, Roulston was sidelined with an illness, but bounced back to good form in the recent German stage race Bayern Rundfarht.
This week Roulston has trained with fellow kiwi's Marc Ryan, Jessie Sergent, Sam Bewely and Greg Henderson as part of his build up for this weekend.
"Catching up with the kiwi boys has been great and a good laugh. Training with Aussies, South Africans and yanks is fun, but nothing like riding with the kiwi boys," he said.
"I've been doing some really concentrated training and everything has been going well. I've really been focusing on the fine details with my food and weight and I feel it's all starting to pay off and couldn't come at a better time. I know I've got good form and I'm close to a really good result."
Roulston is resting up and recovering before the Tour starts with a prologue on Saturday. The Tour de Suisse is Roulston's last opportunity to prove he has the form for the Tour de France ahead of the final team selection.
HTC-Columbia for Tour de Suisse
- Michael Albasini (Swi)
- Mark Cavendish (GB)
- Bernhard Eisel (Aut)
- Tony Martin (Ger)
- Maxime Monfort (Bel)
- Mark Renshaw (Aus)
- Michael Rogers (Aus)
- Hayden Roulston (NZ)
