Breschel at the 2009 E3 Prijs Vlaanderen.
|
|
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Matti Breschel |
Born |
Ballerup, Denmark |
31 August 1984
Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) |
Weight | 68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st) |
Team information | |
Current team | Astana |
Discipline | Road |
Role | Rider |
Rider type | Classics specialist/Sprinter |
Professional team(s) | |
2005–2010 | Team CSC |
2011–2012 | Rabobank |
2013–2015 | Saxo–Tinkoff |
2016 | Cannondale–Garmin |
2017– | Astana |
Major wins | |
|
|
Medal record
|
Matti Breschel (born 31 August 1984) is a Danish professional road bicycle racer who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Astana.
Born in Ballerup, Breschel 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.
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." Under tutelage of seasoned veteran Lars Michaelsen, 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.