Wisconsin native takes biggest result of his career with 3rd overall at Post Denmark Rundt
While Dane, Jakob Fuglsang, celebrated his third consecutive overall win at the Post Danmark Rundt, he was surrounded by a pair of North American faces on the podium. The time trailing powerhouse Canadian, Svein Tuft, was hardly a surprise in second, but RadioShack's young American, Matthew Busche, was.
"I am very happy with the result. This is my first year in Europe, and my first year as a professional. It feels a little unreal. The time trial went really well yesterday, and it set me up for third place. It was pretty close though, so I was pretty nervous before today's stage, but it went well, so I'm happy."
The 25 year old burst on to the scene in the latter half of the 2009 season after inking a midseason deal with the domestic Kelly Benefits team. Busche wasted no time notching up a fine run of great finishes culminating with a 5th place at the USPRO Road Championships. Soon after, Johan Bruyneel's RadioShack team announced the signing of the Midwesterner. The already fairy tale season had gotten even better.
2010 has been a year of learning and improvement for Busche. Ahead of his 3rd place overall at the Tour of Denmark, Busche's season highlight had been a strong ride at the Tour of Austria in July, which included a fourth place on Stage 3 and 16th overall. When the teams were announced for the Tour of Denmark though, Busche's name was certainly not a headliner for the American ProTour squad. The highly acclaimed American talent, Taylor Phinney, was to make his pro debut in Denmark and the luckless Belgian, Gert Steegmans, was in with a chance for stage success. Busche wasn't too concerned with his minor billing in the team though.
"That doesn't really mean anything. I rode a good race, and the team raced well throughout the week. We tried to help Gert in the the sprints. Taylor crashed on the first day and couldn't finish, so that was a little disappointing. We would have liked to get a stage victory for Gert, but we are happy to be on the podium!"
Busche's ride in Denmark was a ride of confirmation for the Wisconsin native. It's clear that the former elite runner is on the cusp of even greater things, as he looks set to close out his first professional season.
"I have not been racing very long, but I've always been able to go well uphill. The time trial yesterday was the best I've done all year. I haven't done a lot of individual time trials in my life, but I think the route yesterday really suited me. Hopefully, yesterday's result was an indication that I can do better against the clock in the future."