Matti Breschel grabbed third place behind Danny Van Poppel on the concluding day of racing in Tour de Wallonie after having opened the final show with a move on the last cobblestone climb. “I focused on provoking an attack from Gilbert”, says Breschel, who now directs his attention towards the Tour of Denmark.
 
Tinkoff-Saxo’s Matti Breschel took to the front on the final day of racing in Tour de Wallonie, as he launched the opening attack on the final, punchy climb up to Thuin. After fragmenting the group, Breschel eased off expecting a tactical run-in to the finish line.
 
“Michael [Mørkøv] brought me perfectly into the final climb before the last kilometer. In itself that is a difficult maneuver, as everybody wants to have the front. So I was in a perfect position with a kilometer to go, as we hit the ramp. Straightaway, I took the front on the climb, not to push it all the way to the line, but to see if I could open up the race and provoke a selection. I eased off after 300-400 meters but in retrospect I probably should have reacted to Van Poppel. I was mainly focused on Gilbert and I expected him to follow suit, as Van Poppel continued but he wasn’t there. Two seconds after, Van Poppel had a big gap and we could catch him”, says Matti Breschel before elaborating on his next race, the Tour of Denmark.
 
“Nonetheless, I’m fairly satisfied although the stage win would have been nice to top off Wallonie. It’s a good start after a long period without racing, where I’ve just been training also to bounce back from my injury in June. I think the legs are responding well and my shape is improving ahead of Tour of Denmark. Tour de Wallonie has been an important preparation and I’m looking forward to see what results we can create in Denmark next week”.
 
Stage 5 of Tour de Wallonie consisted of 167 undulating kilometers, where the riders had to tackle the Mur de Thuin four times. According to Tinkoff-Saxo sports director Lars Michaelsen, the squad delivered strong team work in the tricky finale.
 
“The team made a super effort today and Matti finished 3rd. According to our strategy, Matti should focus on the uphill sprint, where the last 1700 meters started with an 8 percent steep ram on cobblestones and finished off on a 5 percent false flat uphill section, which we rode four times. Matti should provoke Philippe Gilbert to make a long sprint, so he let go of Danny Van Poppel with 1200 meters to go and waited for Gilbert’s move. This came too late and Van Poppel won the stage”, notes Lars Michaelsen before adding about stage:
 
“The guys did exactly as planned today, also in the finale. A breakaway broke free early on the stage but with one lap to go, the peloton was within striking range. So Chris Juul-Jensen attacked and bridged the gap to the group. This created a fast finale and they were caught with 3 kilometers to go. Then Michael Mørkøv did a superb effort and went to the front to bring Matti into the final steep ramp at the front of the pack. We didn’t get the win that we had been aiming for but I’m, without doubt, satisfied with the effort made”.