HIGH ROAD MEN AND WOMEN RIDE GIANT TO VICTORY!

PINOTTI AND MARTIN GO 1-2 IN GIRO FINAL; ARNDT WINS MONTREAL WORLD CUP
(June 1, 2008) The High Road team ended the Giro d’Italia on a high, taking first and second in the final time trial stage to Milan.
Italian national time trial champion Marco Pinotti won the stage and young Tony Martin of Germany was an excellent second. High Road missed out on taking the top three places by just three seconds as Britain’s Bradley Wiggins finished fourth behind Mikhail Ignatiev.
Spain’s Alberto Contador won the Giro d’Italia. He gained time on his overall rivals in the final time trial, finishing the three-week race 1:57 ahead of Italy’s Riccardo Ricco. Marzio Bruseghin was third at 2:54.
It was High Road’s second 1-2 in the Giro after sprinters Andre Greipel and Mark Cavendish finished first and second in Locarno on stage 17.
Pinotti set a time of 32:45 for the flat and fast 28.5km course from Cesano Maderno to the centre of Milan. Martin was seven just seconds slower. Pinotti spent 4 days in the maglia rosa in 2007. Still, he was very pleased with this year’s result. “Last year was super because the pink jersey but winning a stage is just as nice,” Pinotti said. “I’d hoped to do well overall this year but I lost a lot of time in the Dolomites. After that I started to focus on the final time trial. I saved every drop of energy I could and not thinking about the overall classification meant I was a lot stronger.”
FOUR GIRO STAGE WINS FOR HIGH ROAD
High Road won four stages at the Giro d’Italia and were often in the thick of the action in breakaways and late attacks. Mark Cavendish won two sprint stages in Catanzaro and Cittadella, Andre Greipel won in Locarno and Pinotti was the fastest to Milan.
“It’s been a great Giro for High Road. We weren’t initially invited but we’ve proved we deserved our place.” Pinotti said. “We were all motivated to do well during the race. I want to personally thank Bob Stapleton. He was very supportive during the winter and even though he wasn’t at the Giro, he always keeps in touch via email and quickly sent me a message after I won.”

ARNDT WINS EPIC WORLD CUP FOR THE SECOND TIME IN THREE YEARS

High Road's Judith Arndt won the Montreal World Cup for the second time in three years, extending her current lead in the Series. Arndt attacked on the final climb of the 11-lap circuit and only last year's winner Fabiana Luperini (Menikini) was able to follow. Arndt won the two-person sprint to take her second World Cup win this season.
“I love coming to Montreal,” explained Arndt before the race, “even though I’m always really tired when I get here [after coming straight from Tour de l‘Aude]. It’s a really great race and a great atmosphere.”

“Today was hard, especially with the weather and the bumpy roads but our plan was to be aggressive and we did that. Ina [Teutenberg] was out there solo for most of the race and when she got caught, Chantal [Beltman] and Kim [Anderson] attacked.”

The race started in pouring rain and was aggressive from the start. High Road’s Teutenberg and Kate Bates followed several break attempts early in the race before Teutenberg finally attacked solo on the second climb of the day opening a convincing lead.

On the final climb Arndt attacked, taking only Luperini with her. The pair managed to hold off a chase group of six riders to the finish. “It just goes to show that even in the really hard races of attrition like this, it is still a team effort,” commented High Road’s director Petra Rossner. “All of the girls were amazing today and racing aggressively paid off for us again.”

“It feels really great that we have won three World Cups this year,” she added. “It’s exciting to be a part of that.”

Giant is a sponsor of Team High Road, and both the men’s and women’s team ride the prototype Giant TCR Advanced SL bicycle.

No team has as many victories in 2008 as does Team High Road.

For more information on Team High Road, visit: www.highroadsports.com