Stage 3 winner Matti Breschel (Saxo-Tinkoff) is the new Tour of Denmark leader(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Matti Breschel (Tinkoff - Saxo)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Matti Breschel (Tinkoff - Saxo)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
A bandaged Matti Breschel post-crash(Image credit: Brian Holme)
The Tinkoff-Saxo team has continued its series of rider announcements for 2015 by confirming that Danish Classics rider Matti Breschel will stay with the team for a further season and play a key role in supporting team captain Peter Sagan in the spring Classics.
Tinkoff-Saxo announced the arrival of Sagan on Friday August 8, with Edvald Boasson Hagen also a possible new signing for the 2015.
29 year-old Breschel has been a core member of Bjarne Riis' teams over the years, first joining CSC back in 2005. Apart from a two-year spell with Rabobank in 2011 and 2012, he has always raced for Riis' showing glimpses of his ability between serious injuries and long spells of recovery. Next year will be his eleventh season as a professional. He won the 2013 Tour of Denmark and took two stages and the overall classification at the Tour of Luxembourg this year. However his Classics campaign was affected by a nasty crash at the Tour of Oman when he was hit by a flying mattress and suffered serious abrasions to his face, arm and chest.
“It has been my plan to stay with the team and it’s nice to finally being able to announce it," Breschel said in a statement from the team.
“We’re going to have a really exciting team next season. My clear ambition is to help the team as much as possible, whether it’s by winning stages or supporting my teammates. I believe I can perform throughout the season, but the spring classics are of course on my radar as a part of the season, where I want to race on my highest level. I’m in good shape right now and I want to finish 2014 strongly.”
Riis was happy to see a fellow Dane stay at Tinkoff-Saxo, now officially a Russian team after Oleg Tinkov bought the team from Riis for a reported six million Euro last winter.
“He has had some unfortunate years with crashes and injuries. But I know we haven’t seen Matti’s full potential yet. After each injury he has fought his way back and in glimpses we’ve seen what level he actually has," Riis said.
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Breschel is riding the Tour of Denmark and finished second and third on two stages.
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
