Tinkoff-Saxo’s Matti Breschel placed 7th in a sprint decision that brought Vattenfall Cyclassics to a conclusion after 221 World Tour kilometers. Sports Director Nicki Sørensen notes that he’s pleased with the squad’s performance against pure sprinters among which André Greipel took the win.

Matti Breschel took matters into his own hands after having been delivered at the front of the pack going into the final sprint. Despite a tough fight for positioning against multiple avid sprinters, Breschel was in the mix on the final hundred meters.

“It was a very fine performance today. I’m happy to see that Matti Breschel was up there and had the legs and the motivation to mingle with the best sprinters in the world. He received strong backing from the team throughout the race and the guys kept their eyes on the target”, says sports director Nicki Sørensen and adds:

“We had Breschel, Valgren, Rogers and Mørkøv in the front group after the selection had been made and they all contributed. Mørkøv, as road captain, tied the team effort together and played an important role in the final kilometers, Rogers showed his power and experience, Valgren put on the pressure and Matti was determined to get in the mix in the sprint”.

Vattenfall Cyclassics offered 221.3 mainly flat kilometers with the exception of a short, steep climb that the riders had to scale three times on the final laps in Hamburg.

“If we had faced crosswinds, it could have been something different. But at no point, did we see any seriously dangerous attacks. The sprinters’ teams worked hard to control the race. Valgren launched an attack in the final part of the race but didn’t get a significant advantage. However, it shows that he’s motivated and still has the energy after a season of many race days. In the end, Matti was up against some hard competitors in their natural element. He fought hard to maintain his position and he still had the energy to finish in a more than acceptable position behind Greipel”, concludes Nicki Sørensen.