Tinkoff-Saxo’s ace on stage 2 of Eneco Tour, Matti Breschel, was unfortunately brought to the ground in a high-speed crash deep into the stage finale. Breschel was dragged down going into the final kilometer, as a rider next to him clipped the barriers. Lead-out man Nikolay Trusov finished 19th, behind stage winner André Greipel.
 
“It’s very unfortunate, luckily Matti could finish the stage, but he will have to undergo further examinations this evening”, says team sports director Patxi Vila. Breschel was able to cross the line, whereupon the first inspection performed by the team doctor Piet Daneels revealed superficial skin wounds on his knees, hips and back.
 
“Our strategy was the same as yesterday, which was to try to get a good result in the sprint with Matti, who showed very strong shape in Tour of Denmark. He’s not a pure sprinter but he is fast and we wanted to position him well. Unfortunately, a rider from Topsport Vlaanderen hit the barriers going into the final kilometer and clipped Matti”, adds Patxi Vila.

Stage 2 of Eneco Tour took the riders 180km from and to Breda. After a dedicated effort on Monday’s opening stage from Nikolay Trusov to position Breschel, who ultimately finished 23rd in a unpredictable sprint, Tinkoff-Saxo focused on improving the final outcome. However, the crash put an end to the team plans, while Lotto-Soudal’s André Greipel grabbed the sprint win.
 
“Generally, much of today’s stage was carried out on narrow, technical roads with a lot of left and right. The tiny roads created a lot of tension and stress for the entire peloton and the last three kilometers were equally technical. Trusov did a good job again and now we’ll wait and see how Matti is feeling later tonight and tomorrow before we decide our strategy”, says Patxi Vila before concluding:

“Our GC riders, Rogers and Boaro, will try to save as much energy as possible tomorrow, as we have the crucial time trial coming up. It’s important that they have as much energy left in the tank, when the time trial gets underway on Thursday”.