The 2015 season is drawing to a close, as Tinkoff-Saxo lines up at the French one-day race Paris-Bourges. While the outfit sees action in Abu Dhabi, a seven-strong squad takes to the roads of central France for rolling terrain and a fast run-in towards the finish line. Matti Breschel plays the part as protected rider.

Ahead of the 190.3km race, Tinkoff-Saxo sports director Lars Michaelsen tells that the squad will deploy the roughly same approach as Tuesday’s race in Belgium.

“Our plan will be approximately the same as the one we used Tuesday. We didn’t get a notable result but we were there and made out mark on the race. Now, we can only hope that Matti Breschel is feeling better, as he was struggling with a bit of illness at Binche-Chimay-Binche. We’re not sure how he is but we now that his shape overall at the moment is good and that’s also why he was able to finish in the first group Tuesday although not among the first”, comments Lars Michaelsen, who won Paris-Bourges himself in 1994.

Tinkoff-Saxo lines up Matti Breschel, Maciej Bodnar, Michael Kolar, Nikolay Trusov, Pavel Brutt and stagiaires Michael Gogl and Antwan Tolhoek.

“The guys will all have their opportunity to try something if it corresponds to the team strategy. As I previously stated, motivation can have a profound effect at this point of the season. We had hoped for wind to create a tough race but it appears that we’ll have calm and dry weather”, says Michaelsen before finishing:

“It’s going to be a fast race but after 125km we face the Côte du Graveron, where the climb can create a selection besides the fact that the winemakers produce some good wine right there. Ultimately, we face a fast run-in towards the finish line in Bourges. We will protect Matti Breschel for the final kilometers and focus on bringing him into a good position”.