Deja Vu: CSC Again in Philly as Breschel Breaks Through

Matti Breschel, the 24 year old Dane of the CSC squad, has long been hailed as a future star of cycling. An affable, likable youngster, Breschel has ridden in support of his CSC teammates since he joined the team in 2005, and most expected that he would assist fellow teammate Matt Goss, second in the 2007 Philly race, to victory in Sunday's 24th edition of the American cycling tradition.

To everyone's surprise though, Breschel was the protected rider on the CSC squad, and he made good on the confidence placed in him by director sportif Lars Michaelson and the rest of the CSC squad. Coming seemingly out of nowhere, Breschel was able to hold off American Kirk O'Bee of the Health Net team as well as former Philly winner Fred Rodriguez of the Rock Racing outfit for a hige victory for his CSC squad.

In what was by far his biggest victory to date, Breschel put the cycling world on notice that he is fast becoming a world class all-arounder capable of taking victory even under the most difficult of circumstances. Temperatures for the race were in the high 90's, and the humidty was measured at 99%. Breschel however kept his cool, sitting in the main bunch throughout the race, waiting for his time to pounce.

CSC, once again, has taken a huge win when no one thought they had a shot at victory. They are such a tactically sound team that they always seem to place their riders in position to win. And more times than not, CSC riders get the job done. Last year, JJ Haedo was not thought to be a serious threat for the Philly title, but he bested Bernhard Eisel in the bunch sprint, after a masterful lead out from his fellow teammate Matt Goss.

Breschel is at the end of a two year contract with CSC, and will be looking for more significant money. If things don't work out at CSC, where would he most like to ride in 2009 and beyond? "Probably a Belgian team. They do things right and I like Belgium, the fans are great!" More likely though is that CSC boss Bjarne Riis will hold onto his fellow countryman, who is on the verge of more great things in the sport of cycling.