Mathias Bregnhøj: Chasing the pro contract, the long way around

A flat in Girona lies empty these days: While Magnus Cort was presented as part of the Uno-X Mobility Tour de France squad in Lille Thursday evening, his roommate Mathias Bregnhøj has been in China since Tuesday, getting ready to race the Tour of Magnificent Qinghai with the Terengganu Cycling Team from Sunday.

Bregnhøj signed for the Malaysian Continental team, also known as TSG, ahead of the 2025 season and has collected consistent results throughout the first half of the year. The 29-year-old Dane finished 11th in the AlUla Tour, Tour de Taiwan, and Tour of Türkiye, fifth in the GP Syedra Ancient City, third in the Tour of Mersin, and second in the Tour de Kumano.

In the latter race, he went away with Mark Stewart (Solution Tech-Vini Fantini) on stage 3, the hardest stage of the four-day race, but lost the two-man sprint to the Scotsman who took the yellow jersey and defended it on the final day.

A week later, Bregnhøj was runner-up to Alessandro Fancellu (JCL Team Ukyo) on stage 2 of the Tour of Japan, a hilly circuit race in Inabe. Bregnhøj then finished seventh on the queen stage up Mount Fuji to end the eight-day race in fifth place overall.

“Yeah, I would absolutely like to exchange those second places for a victory. It’s just much more fun to cross the line first. But I do believe in that victory, it’s going to come at some point this year,” Bregnhøj said.

But how did a 29-year-old Dane get to Asian races in the first place? The story starts a few years ago when Bregnhøj decided to focus on cycling full-time.

“Before 2023, I was cycling part-time, combining it with my studies for a bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and Health. I didn’t really think I could become a pro, but when I signed with Riwal [for 2022], I got more confidence. I finished university, the team became Leopard Togt for 2023, and I wanted to give full-time cycling a shot, concentrating only on that. And it was a great year in terms of results,” he explained.

In 2023, the then-27-year-old won the Olympia’s Tour, the Circuit des Ardennes, and a stage of the Flèche du Sud where he finished 7th overall. After a fifth place at the Danish championships, he finished eighth in the Tour of Denmark.

“Already in May, I had signed a pro contract with Human Powered Health for 2024, but then in August, they told me that the team would fold instead. That wasn’t great, it was a difficult market, maybe I made some bad decisions myself, and finally in November, I was contacted by Sabgal-Anicolor from Portugal [now Anicolor-Tien21]. They said that they wanted to make a big step up, wanted international riders, and made lots of promises. In the end, let’s say that it didn’t turn out that way. But even before I’d signed with Sabgal-Anicolor, I had been in touch with Terengganu, I talked with them again, and we made an agreement for 2025,” said Bregnhøj.

The Terengganu Cycling Team may be registered with the UCI as a Continental team, but Bregnhøj says that they are paying pro-level wages, and the team’s budget is on par with that of the smaller ProTeams – mainly due to travel expenses.

“TSG, and I think most of the big Continental teams in Asia, pay the same as the minimum salary at a ProTeam. They know what’s needed to attract European riders. I can commit to cycling as a full-time job – and that’s necessary as well with a team like Terengganu. Halfway through the year, I’ve already been away for 90 days, there’s no other way this would work,” Bregnhøj said.

“When I’m at home in Vejle, I’m staying with my family, so I only have to pay rent in Spain. I moved to Girona ahead of 2024. Human Powered Health had their base there, that was the reason, and even when the team folded, it still made sense when racing for Sabgal-Anicolor. I’ve been sharing a flat with Magnus Cort for the last 18 months. And the cost of living isn’t as high in Spain, so everything works out,” he continued.

One problem that riders from outside Europe face is visa requirements, often facing a race against time to receive the necessary visa in time to fulfil their racing obligations, but Bregnhøj says that this hasn’t been a problem for him at all.

“So far, I haven’t had to get a visa anywhere, we even have a visa exemption for China as long as you don’t stay longer than 30 days. And the team has a staff member solely responsible for logistics who takes care of all the paperwork for the riders who do need visas. That’s one way of finding out how extremely privileged you are as a Dane. When you travel all around the world, you realise just how good we have it,” said Bregnhøj.

The Terengganu Cycling Team has been UCI-registered since 2011, and though the exact name of the team has changed a bit over the years, the Malaysian state of Terengganu has always been at the centre of the outfit.

Terengganu is a sultanate on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula and the centre of Malaysian cycling. The state emblem is displayed on the upper part of the riders’ chest, and the biggest logo on the team kit is that of Terengganu Inc., an investment holding company that manages assets for the Terengganu state government, meaning that the team is both directly and indirectly government-funded. Several Malaysian companies are also sported on the kit, and many of them have been for years.

“We also have some very good equipment partnerships. It’s one of very few Continental teams that is actually sponsored by Shimano, not just using their components, and we have a great partnership with Polygon Bikes as well,” Bregnhøj added.

The team has a mix of Malaysians and foreigners. Nine local riders, with national champion Nur Aiman Rosli and sprinter Harrif Salleh the biggest names and 22-year-old Zhe Yie Kee an interesting talent, are joined by seven riders from around the world: Aiman Cahyadi from Indonesia joined in 2023 while Eritrean Metkel Eyob has been racing for Terengganu ever since 2018, and Ukrainian Anatolii Budiak is in his fourth year with the team. Dutch Adne van Engelen, Stefan de Bod from South Africa and Vadim Pronskiy from Kazakhstan joined ahead of the 2025 season, the latter two from WorldTeams EF Education-EasyPost and Astana Qazaqstan Team, respectively.

“It’s those of us who have raced in Europe that have the responsibility to get results. And then we’re also there to help in developing the Malaysian riders and getting them to the next level. Many of them are really very good sprinters, Harrif Salleh won three stages in the Tour of Langkawi, a ProSeries race, but it’s no secret that it’s the riders with European experience that are expected to perform and get UCI points. Every year, the team’s goal is to win the Asia Tour.”

The Terengganu team won the Asia Tour for the first time in 2019 and are currently on a four-year run, having been the best Asian UCI team every year from 2021 to 2024, in large part because of the contributions of their overseas riders.

Photos like this one from the team presentation in Malaysia can make you wonder whether racing in Asia is just a useful way to get to travel and experience the world. But Bregnhøj makes it clear that tourism is far from his mind when he’s at a race.

“I’ve honestly been surprised by how small the differences are compared to racing in Europe. Once you’re at a race, the rhythm is the same: Hotel, massage, dinner, sleep, breakfast, race, rinse and repeat. And I didn’t go to Asia to be a tourist; I did it to race. Of course, in between the Tour of Kumano and the Tour of Japan, for instance, we had a week without races, that’s when you see a little bit of the country, but it’s more like getting some pointers for what I’d like to maybe see as a real tourist one day. But whether it’s Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Turkey, or Japan, it’s really very much like racing in Europe. Maybe the hotels are a bit better than in France,” Bregnhøj said with a laugh.

And while a 2.2 race doesn’t turn many heads in Belgium or Italy, it can be one of the biggest sports events in the whole country elsewhere.

“The roads are good, and the organisers really take good care of us. The Tour of Japan may be a 2.2 race now, but for the Japanese it’s the biggest race of the year, and we did the last stage in the centre of Tokyo where they simply shut down part of the city so that we could do a criterium,” Bregnhøj was impressed.

In fact, races may be too well-organised, meaning that team staff don’t get to develop experience with the tasks that every soigneur or mechanic on a European team has memorised in their sleep.

“Team staff in Asia may not have the same routines as those on a European team. You fly into an airport, and the organisers have arranged everything, picking you up, showers at the finish and so on. But we’re going to race some Spanish 1.1 races in July and August, and it will be cool to show the team how European races work. I’m looking forward to that,” he continued.

When asked about how the level of competition in Asian races compared to Europe, Bregnhøj said that the AlUla Tour, Tour of Oman, or Tour of Türkiye were basically the same.

“Those are professional races with several WorldTeams, it’s just like in Europe. And in the other Asian races, the level is quite decent as well. One difference to Europe is the width, I would say. In a .2 race in Europe, there will be 30 riders who can realistically race for the victory. And in Asia, in the Tour of Japan, for instance, it’s maybe 10 or 15. But those 10-15 are definitely of the same standard as the best 10-15 in a European race,” he explained.

Bregnhøj’s favourite races are like the Ardennes classics – hilly races where you have to push time and time again. But he also excels at stage racing.

“My biggest strength is one effort after another, when it’s about just digging in and putting the power down. I have a good engine, and those efforts of five to ten minutes, that’s what I’m best at. I also do well in stage races, going on for several days in succession, staying concentrated and focused. And I don’t mind a time trial in a stage race at all, on the contrary. In the 2023 Tour of Denmark, I moved up from 11th to 8th in the TT on the final day,” Bregnhøj said.

“I don’t see myself as a pure climber, but I know how to climb. It would be hard for me to win on an HC climb, but I’m convinced that if you put me in a mountain stage, I would still be there after a couple of climbs and be able help my leader at the start of the final climb,” he continued.

Many pro teams are always on the lookout for the next big thing, signing young riders in the hope of picking up another Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel or Isaac Del Toro. But Bregnhøj believes that there is room for a rider like him in the pro ranks as well.

“I may be closing in on 30 years, but I have the conviction that I’m good enough to be pro. When I’m racing, I can feel that I have something to contribute to a team even in the biggest races. It’s still my goal to turn pro. I’ve been open about that to TSG, and they support me in that,” he said.

“In 2023, I took several UCI victories. This year, it’s the consistency over 40 race days, and always with good placings. I hope that teams will see that, and now I have experience from races in Asia, from small races in Europe, big races in Europe, and I know myself and the races well. I have things to pass on to others, also with my university degree in mind,” Bregnhøj pointed out.

“Once you’ve had that pro contract, you also want to actually line up in a race for a pro team,” he said. “My dream scenario would be to continue on a pro team for another 5-6 years, to grow with the team and become part of the team culture, eventually moving into a mentoring or coaching role.”

Since his first tilt at a pro contract in 2023, Bregnhøj has also undergone some personal growth, trying to learn from the adversities he met and turning the experience into a positive.

“Two years ago, with all these victories under my belt, I thought I was going to set the cycling world on fire. Since then, I have realised that the value I can bring to a team lies in my educational background and in the experience I have gathered over the years. In that way, the last two years have been put into perspective for me. If you want to enjoy being a cyclist, there has to be a bit more to it. It’s more fun to win when the team has done a lot of work for you. And if you have put in a big effort for a teammate to win, that’s almost better than winning yourself,” he smiled.

It is often said that things come to those who aren’t actively looking for them, and Bregnhøj has adopted this more relaxed state as well.

“In 2024 I was feeling quite desperate, chasing that pro contract that I had already had. I didn’t have a bad season, I was close to winning the Circuit des Ardennes again, only losing on bonus seconds, but I made some wrong decisions. Now I have more agency over my career and my life, I feel more responsible and less desperate. Of course, I still want to become pro, and if it happens, that will be great. But if it doesn’t, at least I have regained that agency, and I am grateful to TSG for this opportunity to do all these big races,” he said.

The next big race is the 2.Pro-category Tour of Magnificent Qinghai, an eight-day race at high altitude in the province of Qinghai, offering the next opportunity for that elusive victory.

“I arrived in China on Tuesday, so I had some days to recover from the jetlag. And with nine professional teams on the start list, it’s a great shop window. I have tried to combine preparing for the national championships with preparing for Qinghai, so I underwent hypoxia therapy in Denmark before departing for China,” Bregnhøj gave an update from the Chinese sports centre that accommodates him and other arriving riders ahead of the race.

At the Danish championships, this writer had the opportunity of sitting in the passenger seat of Bregnhøj’s support car during the ITT. The car was driven by Casper Kaysen, normally a sport director at the Danish team CeramicSpeed Aros Forsikring Herning CK. Kaysen talked Bregnhøj through the time trial with almost metronomic precision. What was a bit surprising, though, was Kaysen relaying the intermediate times in comparison to Morten Nørtoft, a 22-year-old racing for Team ColoQuick after two years on the Visma-Lease a Bike development team.

“Morten is one of my best friends. He’s also from the Vejle area, and we are on a very similar level. We have trained together a lot in June and made jokes about it, ‘I’ll beat you’, ‘no, I’m better than you’, just to motivate each other,” explained Bregnhøj when asked about it.

“Let’s be honest, when you’re racing the Danish ITT championships, it’s close to impossible to win, but despite that, a time trial requires concentration, planning, preparation, mental focus. You can use those things in other races as well as in life generally. That’s why I like doing time trials even when I’m not racing for victory,” he said.

In the Danish road race championships, Bregnhøj could not repeat his top result from 2023. He finished in 33rd place, nine minutes down on Søren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek) … but unlike three quarters of the 150-rider peloton, he did finish the race on an extremely windy day.

“It was the hardest Danish championships in many, many years. Full-on echelons right from the start, and I ended up between a rock and a hard place, chasing all day. That was frustrating, but I have only myself to blame not to hit the first echelon,” Bregnhøj said about the race afterwards.

Lining up in a race without a team to support you brings its own challenges, but like in the time trial, Bregnhøj could count on help from friends.

“I’m fortunate enough to have been part of the scene for a while. That means you know someone everywhere. I raced for Herning CK earlier in my career, so now they’re helping me out a bit here, and I’m really grateful for that. And I have built enough experience over time, it’s not as if it’s rocket science to prepare a dozen bidons the morning of the race. I also think that it’s important to take responsibility for yourself, stand on your own feet and do everything you can to get the best result. You need to have grit and determination, not just on the bike, but off the bike, too,” Bregnhøj finished.