World championship runner-up against tennis player Wozniacki and swimmer Friis in contest
Just over a month after he finished a superb second in the world road race championships, Matti Breschel has nominated as “Athlete of the Year” by the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten, Team Danmark and the Danish Athlete’s Association.
The 26 year old Team Saxo Bank rider is up against the swimmer, Lotte Friis and tennis player, Caroline Wozniacki in the final voting.
His Geelong performance was the highlight of a season which also included victories in the Dwars door Vlaanderen plus stage three and the points classification in the Tour of Denmark. He was also eighth in Gent-Wevelgem.
The world championship ride came two years after he finished an unexpected third in Varese, behind Alessandro Ballan and his fellow Italian Damiano Cunego.
While he is still to take a major title, Breschel is seen as one of the top one day riders in the sport, and should step up a level in 2011. He is moving to the Rabobank team and will focus mainly on the Classics and, of course, on a world championship which will be held on home soil. Providing he starts in good condition, he will be one of the main favourites for the race.
Breschel’s chances of winning the Danish Athlete of the Year award depend on the voting of the jury, which comprises Cultural Affairs minister Per Stig Moller, DIF (Danish Sports Federation) President Niels Nygaard, DIF director Karl Christian Koch, Team Denmark chairman Carl Holst, Team Denmark-director Michael Andersen, Jyllands-Posten chief editor Jørn Mikkelsen and sports editor Christian Thye-Petersen.
Friis won last year and this season took two gold medals in the European swimming championships. Wozniacki took six international tennis tournaments in 2010 and is currently ranked number one in the women’s world ranking.
“All three athletes have delivered fantastic results in the past year and for all of them, it happened in sports with very high international competition,” said Danish Sports Federation president Nygaard on the DIF website. “It’s a performance that the Danes can be really proud of. It is gratifying to note that Lotte Friis, Matti Breschel and Caroline Wozniacki are young and hopefully have lots of good years in them yet. We are thus talking about three athletes who are likely to dominate the top of Danish sport well into the future.”
The winner will be announced on January 8th.