Matteo Cigala took his first win as an A1 category rider yesterday, winning the Pat Howard Memorial in Stamullen. The Aquablue man crossed the line with a few seconds to spare on Eoin Morton of UCD-Fitzcycles CC. (Photo: Amy-Norah Ennis)
Aquablue’s Matteo Cigala took his first win as an A1 rider on Saturday, the former Italian international coming across the line solo in Stamullen ahead of UCD-Fitzcycles.ie duo Eoin Morton and Ian Richardson.
The 50-kilometre race promoted by the Stamullen road club was always going to be a flat-to-the-mat affair and on the opening lap a group of four clipped off the front, with the aforementioned trio present.
However, when that move amounted to nothing, Richardson – clearly going well after the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan - went clear on his own.
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Cigala never panicked, however, and with the enormous help of time-trial specialist and teammate Colm Cassidy they allowed Richardson out front, waiting for the correct moment to up the ante.
Richardson had a gap that hovered between 20 and 30 seconds but on the final lap, Cigala darted clear of the bunch and tore past the Irish international.
He then crested the final climb alone and time-trialled his way to victory.
“When the last lap came, I knew I could win in two different ways; in a sprint or attacking on the last climb,” explained Cigala.
“I opted for the second because I knew with the wind coming from the west, I only needed a five-second lead when I got to the top of the climb as I had the advantage of a tailwind all of the way to the finish.
“Also, I didn’t want to risk doing a group sprint when the final two kilometres was downhill.”
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To the man’s credit, what happened next went exactly as he anticipated.
“I attacked at the start of the climb with a very big gear, leaving a big gap behind.
“I passed Richardson and focused on sprinting all the way to (the finish). I only looked back twice; on the top of the climb and at 300 metres to go.”
And when he saw he had daylight he knew it was his – his first win since the Newbridge GP as an A3 last year.
“Winning is always difficult and always rewarding,” he said afterwards. “I am feeling better every week and everything was perfect.
“When I crossed the line I felt like I was back in the days when I was able to win and have fun at the same time.
“Now I am only an amateur with little time for training but it still feels great to be able to be competitive and win against such good riders.
“Also, it's awesome to win wearing the Aquablue jersey – and a massive thank you to Colm for his help.”
For full results of all of Saturday's races in Stamullen, please follow this link.
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