The 2010 season for began in January with the Tour de San Luis and ended in October at the Giro di Lombardia. As a UCI ProTour team, they were automatically invited and obliged to attend every event in the ProTour. The team's ridership changed drastically between the 2009 and 2010 seasons, bringing in a sizeable number of new cyclists. Only 5 of its 25 riders were retained from 2009. Six of the departures joined other ProTour teams for 2010, while of the twenty one new cyclists the team acquired, none rode at that level in 2009. 2010 roster Ages as of January 1, 2010. Riders who joined the team for the 2010 season Riders who left the team during or after the 2009 season One-day races Spring classics Fall races Stage races Valls took the team's first stage win of the year, at the Tour de San Luis. Valls broke away from specialist climbers in the leading peloton to solo to the finish line. The victory also gave him the overall leadership in the race at the time. Valls also won the race's mountains classification. The team next took a stage win at the first ProTour event of the season, the Tour Down Under. On an undulating, hilly stage 3 marked by rain and hot temperatures, Portuguese national champion Cardoso broke away from the leading group headed by in the final kilometer to take victory a second ahead of big names such as Alejandro Valverde, Cadel Evans, and Michael Rogers. Grand Tours Giro d'Italia The team was one of 22 invited to the Giro d'Italia. They were not competitive at any point in the race. After failing to have any riders contesting the finishes to the Giro's first two road race stages, their best-placed rider in the overall standings before the transfer to Italy was Brändle in 51st, two minutes back of the race leader. The squad's time in the stage 4 team time trial was provisionally second-best for much of the day, but it ended up being good for only 14th place. In stage 9, Cheula made the morning breakaway, but the stage was decided by a mass sprint, in which Eibegger was 10th. In stage 13, Mayoz made a successful breakaway and came close to a stage win, finishing third in the sprint behind Manuel Belletti and Greg Henderson. This was as close as the team came to