Matti Breschel

Matti Breschel

Personal information
Full name	Matti Breschel
Born	August 31, 1984 (1984-08-31) (age 27)  Denmark
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	68 kg (10 st 10 lb)
Team information
Current team	Rabobank
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics Specialist/Sprinter
Amateur team(s)
until 2004	Team PH
Professional team(s)
2005–2010 2011–	Team CSC Rabobank
Major wins
Vuelta a Espana, 1 Stage Tour de Suisse, 1 Stage Dwars door Vlaanderen (2010) National Road Race Champion (2009) Points Classification, Danmark Rundt (2008, 2009, 2010)
Medal record Competitor for  Denmark Road bicycle racing World Championships Silver 2010 Melbourne Road race Bronze 2008 Varese Road race
Infobox last updated on October 3, 2010

Matti Breschel (born 31 August 1984 in Ballerup) is a Danish professional road bicycle racer who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Rabobank.^[1]

Career

He got his breakthrough with small Danish Team PH, finishing 6th at the U/23 Cycling World Championship in Verona in 2004 where he helped fellow Dane Mads Christensen finish 3rd. He also won the bronze medal at the Danish National Road Racing Championship during the summer of 2004 as well.

He turned professional for the 2005 season in Denmark based Team CSC, where he signed a two-year contract. At the press conference, regarding his choice to join Team CSC in October 2004, he stated that he simply wished to adjust to the rigors of professional cycling, saying "I hope to get in the team, but in the beginning I just want to learn the game and to learn the races. Somewhere I know that I'm in for a beating."^[2] Under tutelage of seasoned veteran Lars Michaelsen,^[3] Breschel would start the season in the Tour of Qatar, where the two riders finished side by side, Breschel conceding the final victory to Michaelsen. They would ride a number of classics and smaller races together, and Breschel finished in a number of secondary placings, just missing the victory podiums.

For the start of the 2006 season, he once again showed himself in Tour of Qatar, finishing as the best young rider of the race for the second year in a row. He showed his good form in March with a third place finish in Le Samyn, being beaten only by Philippe Gilbert in the bunch sprint of the peloton, and a few days later he sprinted his way to second place at stage 2 of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen where he was second only to world class sprinter Robbie McEwen. For the third, and last, stage of the race, Breschel would once more sprint against McEwen, with the winner taking the overall victory of the race, this time with the effect that both riders crashed. Breschel broke his vertebrae in two places and McEwen was de-classed in the race.^[4]

He came back with thunder and lightning in 2007 and came in an impressive 14th at the Paris–Roubaix, which his team-mate Stuart O'Grady won. After recovering he won his first victory as a professional in stage 2 of Danmark Rundt in August 2007. This was the first Danish stage win in five years of this national tour.

In 2008 his best season came and he got his first big international breakthrough when he on June 8, 2008, won the Philadelphia International Championship also known as the Commerce Bank International Championship in Philadelphia, PA where he outsprinted all contenders in a little bunch sprint after a long and hard race. A couple of weeks later he went on to take another impressive victory when he won the 2nd stage of Ster Elektrotoer, a stage finishing on the feared Cauberg and also won the overall points jersey. He maintained his good form through the season and also came in 2nd in the Danish Road Racing Championship, only beaten by his team made Nicki Sørensen. In August he won two stages at Tour of Denmark and also led the overalls until the final time trial securing him a total fifth place. After all a very impressive season for the young gun the biggest scalp came on September 21 where he won the last stage of the Vuelta a España in Madrid in a very convincing way only a few days after he came in second in the 17th stage of the Vuelta a España. Only a week later Breschel rode very impressively at the world cycling championships finishing 3rd and getting a bronze medal. During the 2010 season Breschel rode well in the Cobbled Classics but suffered from bad luck. Breschel won Dwars door Vlaanderen and put in in strong performances in Gent–Wevelgem and Ronde Vlaanderen, but suffered mechanical defects in both races. In Paris–Roubaix he was troubled by a knee injury.

Career highlights

2001

1st National U-19 Road Race Champion

2004

1st U-23 Giro del Canavese

1st Stage 2 Ringerike GP

6th U-23 Road Race World Championship

6th U-23 Paris–Roubaix

2005

2nd Overall Tour of Qatar

2007

1st Stage 2 Danmark Rundt

1st Stage 2 Tour of Ireland

2008

1st Stage 21 Vuelta a España

1st Philadelphia International

1st Stage 2 Ster Electrotoer

1st Stage 2 Danmark Rundt

1st Stage 3 Danmark Rundt

1st Points Classification

3rd World Championships Elite Road Race

2009

1st National Road Race Champion

1st Stage 4 Tour de Suisse

1st Stage 2 Volta a Catalunya

1st Stage 4 Tour de Luxembourg

1st Points Classification,

1st Stage 1 Danmark Rundt

1st Points Classification

2nd Vattenfall Cyclassics

3rd Overall Tour of Ireland

1st Youth Classification

6th Ronde van Vlaanderen

7th World Championships Elite Road Race

10th Paris–Roubaix

2010

1st Dwars door Vlaanderen

1st Stage 3 Tour of Denmark

1st Points Classification

2nd UCI Road World Championships - Men's Road Race

8th Gent–Wevelgem

Footnotes

1. ^ http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/breschel-signs-for-rabobank
2. ^ Matti Breschel signs for CSC by CyclingNews.com, October 21, 2004
3. ^ "Matti i mester- lære", Ekstra Bladet, December 10, 2004
4. ^ Injured Breschel blames McEwen by CyclingNews.com, March 6, 2006

External links

• Team Saxo Bank profile

Persondata
Name	Breschel, Matti
Alternative names
Short description	Road bicycle racer
Date of birth	1984-08-31
Place of birth	Ballerup, Denmark
Date of death
Place of death