Team hit by illness and bad luck but look ahead to Flanders
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Bernhard Eisel (HTC Highroad)(Image credit: Bert Geerts/dcp-bertgeerts@xs4all.nl)
Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Highroad) was the centre of attention at the start of Gent-Wevelgem.(Image credit: Barry Ryan)
HTC-Highroad came into Gent-Wevelgem with an enviable record of three wins in four seasons but on Sunday their streak of success ended after bad luck and illness hit the team.
The team started with a three-pronged attack consisting of sprinter Mark Cavendish, last year’s winnerBernhard Eisel and Milan-San Remo winner Matt Goss.
The Australian was forced to quit the race early on suffering from illness but should return for next weekend’s Tour of Flanders.
Meanwhile, Cavendish punctured before the first ascent of the Kemmelberg and although he chased back and rejoined the leaders, he was caught up in a crash in the final 30 kilometres.
That left Eisel as the team’s best hope and in this exclusive video the Austrian talks about the HTC-Highroad’s race and his form ahead of this weekend’s Tour of Flanders.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
