Last year’s silver medallist forced to withdraw from home race
Matti Breschel’s big goal of taking a world title on home soil has had to be abandoned due to the injuries he suffered in a crash last week at the Vuelta a España. According to a spokesman from the Danish Cycling Union, the Rabobank rider won’t be recovered in time to compete in the Copenhagen event and his place will instead go to another rider.
“Matti crashed in the Vuelta and he got a complicated fracture in his hand,” the spokesman told VeloNation a short while ago. “He is being operated on today and is getting a plate inserted. We don’t know when he will come back to racing but the coach Lars Bonde has confirmed that he will miss the world championships.”
The Danish Cycling Union has confirmed the decision on its website and listed the long list for the races. The riders in contention are the Leopard Trek duo Anders Lund and Jakob Fuglsang, Saxo Bank SunGard riders Chris Anker Sørensen, Nicki Sørensen and Michael Morkov, plus Alex Rasmussen and Lars Bak from Team HTC -High Road. Three other riders could force their way into contention if they post very strong performances prior to the final selection being made; these are the Saxo Bank SunGard riders Jonas Aaen and Mads Christensen, as well as Martin Mortensen from Leopard Trek.
Rasmussen and Fuglsang and provisionally been selected for the time trial, which will take place on September 21st. However the Danish coach Lars Bonde has indicated this could be changed in the event of injury or any other problems.
According to the DCU spokesman, a final decision as to the road race team will come after September 18th. “The team will be confirmed after the Tour of Britain,” he said.
Last Thursday, Breschel hit the deck in the neutralised section of the sixth stage of the Vuelta and was taken to hospital for X-Rays. These confirmed fractures to the middle and ring finger of his right hand, and he also suffered numerous cuts and bruises.
Earlier this week Breschel said that he was still feeling rough, with the wounds on his body becoming infected and necessitating antibiotics. He said that he was spending time in bed trying to recover, and that he hadn’t been able to train on the bike.
“It certainly looks very bleak in relation to going for medals,” he conceded then, speaking to Feltet.dk. “It is the biggest world championships ever for a Dane, because it is at home, and I would never want to miss that chance. But I have since tried to prepare myself for the worst, and I’ve also thought about if we should really give a chance to another [rider] if they are better prepared and riding strongly. I’ll have that discussion with the coach Lars Bonde.”
That discussion has been had and in the light of today’s operation on his hand, the decision has been taken to send another rider in his place.
The news is a blow to Breschel and to his fans, who had reason to believe that he would be right in the hunt for the medals. While he had a tough year due to injury, his form was on the up lately. He was twice second on stages of the Tour of Denmark and more recently was fifth and sixth on stages two and three of the Vuelta.
Breschel was a bronze medallist in the 2008 worlds and finished as runner-up behind Thor Hushovd (Norway) last year. The nature of this year’s course was thought to suit him well.