Former Italian international and pro rider, Matteo Cigala (21) leaves the peloton for dust in the A3 race at Newbridge; an event held in memory of the late Morgan Sparrow (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
One name that appeared in stickybottle's results for the first time on Sunday was that of Matteo Cigala of Navan Road Club. But he’s definitely not from the Meath area.
The 21 year-old’s back story is quite remarkable.
He’s an ex-professional and former Italian junior and U23 international who has over 100 wins to his name.
He rode the World Junior Road Race Championships in Copenhagen in 2011 – helping a teammate finish 5th.
He also rode the junior edition of Paris Roubaix and raced in the same team as two-time Vuelta a Espana stage winner Fabio Aru in the past.
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Raised on the shores of Lake Garda, Cigala packed up the bike two years ago as he fell out of love with the sport.
Cigala, far right, in the colours of the Italian national team at the World Championships in Copenhagen in 2011.
He decided to travel the world before moving to Ireland to study for a business degree.
He lives in Navan now, having moved because his Italian girlfriend settled there. And he started training properly only six weeks ago.
On Sunday, in only his second race in the country, he won the A3 category event at the Newbridge GP, despite being ill during last week.
“I think Mother Nature gave me some talent and some of it is still in my body,” laughed Cigala after his win.
“For me, it’s not my first race in my career; it is my first win as a retired cyclist. I started racing at 6-years-old. I quit, but I won a lot of races.
“I was in the National team; did Paris Roubaix, did the Worlds. I won 100 races in my career. I was at a high level. It was my job but I didn’t enjoy cycling then.”
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Cigala was a prolific winner back in his junior days - which were only four years ago.
Cigala said it was great to be back racing, though has no grand ambitions to return to a high level.
“These past two years I didn’t exercise that much; I just did some easy rides and some runs but I got fat.
“I put on 10 kilos but I’m enjoying it more right now. I’m drinking what I want, eating what I want, partying when I want and my mind is free now. I race when I want.
“I raced here in Navan last weekend in the Cycleways Cup but it was really, really cold, snowing, cold, rain.
“It was my first race, I didn’t know how many people would be there, how many minutes the break had.
“No one was telling us anything but seven riders rode in the front and they won from the sprint.
Crossing the line at the end of the Cycleways Cup in Navan the weekend before last; a day that provided a real Irish welcome to the racing scene here (Photo: Sean Rowe)
“I was supposed to race on Saturday last but I have a cold, a fever and a sore throat but yesterday I felt well, I felt better so I decided to race.”
Cigala said he tried to get away early on Sunday but when he was not able to he opted to wait for the sprint.
“It was hard to get in the break because the lap was fast and windy so I decided to save my energy for the last kilometres,” he recalled.
“At 700-900 metres to go a guy from UCD tried to break away and from 500 metres I just saw we had a few metres on the group so I decided to sprint at 300.
“I checked at 100 metres and I saw no one was there and I saw victory was mine. I enjoyed it.
“I’m very surprised about this win. I just started the last month and a half.
“It’s always nice to win; it’s not the same life I used to have but still enjoyable to win.”
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