Cycling: Roulston joins Columbia

Greg Henderson is leaving the hard-hitting Columbia HTC cycling team but it will lose little of its sprint power by replacing him with fellow New Zealander Hayden Roulston.

Team owner Bob Stapleton indicated that Henderson, who won the second stage of the ongoing Tour of Spain nine days ago, was more than likely to suit up with the British Sky team next season.

Stapleton said the team was retaining the riders mainly responsible for about 85 per cent of the 152 International Cycling Union (UCI) races it won over the past two seasons.

Partly responsible for this success were the departing riders Henderson, Kim Kirchen, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Michael Barry, Thomas Lovkvist, and veteran USPro Champion George Hincapie.

"Obviously we are losing George who will be the marquee for BMC, Kirchen has gone to Katusha and Sky hasn't announced their roster but they will have five or six of our riders," Stapleton told cyclingnews.com.

"It makes sense that they (Sky) want riders who are English speaking, who work together and who are competitive.

"They have to look at us and Garmin for that. I don't begrudge those guys. I feel like we were a part of their success and we will always enjoy their success."

Stapleton said the 2010 roster included 27 riders for the men's team.

Roulston, who has signed a two-year deal, was a strong and experienced rider who would fit nicely into the team's sprint operations "not just as lead-out".

He rode for the Swiss-based Cervelo TestTeam this season, making his Tour de France debut with them.

Briton Mark Cavendish, winner of six Tour de France stages, and German Andre Greipel will remain the team's sprint leaders while Michael Rogers will lead the team's Grand Tour - France, Italy and Spain - aspirations.

"We are continuing to invest in keeping Greipel and Mark well-supported," Stapleton said.

"Keeping a lot of fast guys who can win races isn't a bad formula for success for the team. The men's team won 75 races this year and that comes from having depth and always being competitive in the sprint."

- NZPA