The unfortunate Dane crashed out of the Vuelta a España on stage 6, fracturing two fingers and tearing a tendon in his right hand. He also suffered injuries to his left knee and hip in the fall.
Breschel was set to have a plate inserted into his hand in the Netherlands on Friday afternoon to stabilise the fracture, and he informed Danish coach Lars Bonde that he would thus be unavailable for selection for the Worlds. Plagued by injury since he joined Rabobank from Saxo Bank-Sungard last winter, Breschel also missed out on the Classics due to persistent knee problems.
“With Matti’s apologies, I will make the selection of the six Danish riders for the worlds championships after the Tour of Britain,” Danish coach Lars Bonde said, according to feltet.dk. “I will take the six best individual Danish riders.”
With a silver medal from Geelong last year and bronze medal from Varese in 2008, Breschel was a natural choice to lead the Danish squad on a course that appeared to be well-suited to his characteristics. Bonde acknowledged that his team would have to ride a more attacking race now that they won’t be able to count on Breschel’s rapid finish.
“We still have good riders who can compete in the finale at the Worlds, but Matti’s absence means that we must ride more aggressively in the finale,” Bonde said. “The final tactic will be determined by individual performances between now and the Worlds.”
While the Danish line-up for the road race has yet to be finalised, Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard Trek) and Alex Rasmussen (HTC-Highroad) have been selected for the time trial on September 21.
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