Published September 19, 2010 10:49AM
Danny Pate will ride with HTC-Columbia for the 2011 season, the team announced Sunday.
Pate’s successful career to date includes a U23 world title, an overall win at Tour de Toona, stage wins at Tour of Missouri, Tour de Beauce and team time trial wins at the Giro d’Italia and Tour de Georgia.
“We are happy to welcome Danny to the team,” said HTC-Columbia manager Rolf Aldag. “We have followed him for some time and we really like the way he races. We believe he still has a lot of development in him. He has been U23 TT world champion, which means that he should be absolutely be competitive with the right support.”
Pate race one season in Europe before returning to the U.S. domestic scene and joined Slipstream in 2006 and helped establish the team’s presence in Europe and its eventual arrival to the Tour de France.
“I had a great time with Garmin-Transitions in 2008 and 2009,” said Pate, “but in the middle of this season I realized things had changed and I needed a change. So when the chance came to sign with HTC Columbia, I had no doubts that that’s where I wanted to be. I have experience, but I also know I can still improve. I am really looking forward to this new episode in my career.”