Tinkoff-Saxo’s Matti Breschel was on the lookout for stage success at Paris-Nice. Breschel had bridged the gap to a strong front trio in the stage 2 finale but was forced to withdraw after a mechanical failure stopped the Dane in his tracks. Instead the stage ended in a sprint finish, where Andre Greipel proved the fastest.
 
After the stage, Sean Yates, Tinkoff-Saxo’s leading sport director at Paris-Nice, commented that bad luck at the wrong moment had spoiled Breschel’s chances.
 
“It’s always unfortunate, when a rider gets a mechanical at a crucial moment. Adding the fact that Matti was really strong today, of course, makes it even less fortunate. Tony Martin, Lars Boom and Geraint Thomas is a strong trio to catch down but Matti did it and he continued to hold on the following hill”, says Sean Yates and adds:
 
“It of course makes it less heartrending that the trio didn’t hold on to the finish line, but you never know what could have happened had Matti been in the group. What I know is that it looked impressive, when he bridged that gap to the three guys up front”.

Stage 2 of Paris-Nice took the riders 172 kilometers south to Saint-Amand-Montrond. The race started out at a slow pace allowing a lone rider out front to build an 8-minute advantage midway through the stage. However, as the peloton got closer to the stage finale, the sprinter’s teams turned up the heat and caught the escapee with around 40km’s to go.
 
“It was a slow day again, where the peloton sort of controlled the lone rider out front and ultimately brought him back in again. Our mission was once again to protect Rafal Majka and not to spend too much energy. But the stage was lit up, as we got into the last part and it definitely was a serious move, when Thomas, Boom and Martin attacked, as they are all within the GC top ten. I think that Matti did right, when he decided to follow”, explains Sean Yates.
 
“Tomorrow, we’ll get into more hilly terrain and the pace will probably pick up. Matti has showed that he’s in good shape and if the opportunity arises, we will of course be ready to take it. However, our main goal still awaits further on in the race”.