Having come through a severe back injury that required surgery, faced the Covid-19 pandemic and also seen his places on Irish national teams evaporate because of the sporting rules in Ireland last year it’s a wonder Matthew Teggart is still in the game.
However, the Northern Irish rider – Irish international and
Rás Tailteann stage winner and former yellow jersey – is still standing and
looking to the season ahead with confidence and positivity.
Having turned 25-years-old just over a week ago Teggart
is bracing for race action in France in coming weeks and has had contact from a
pro team during the winter with a view to possibly taking the next step.
Right now Teggart is in Portugal for a training block and will soon be settling into life in Villefranche-sur-Saone, not far from Lyon, getting ready to race.
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He will ride this season for the top-ranked elite team in
France, VilleFranche Beaujolais. And having enjoyed an injury-free period for
quite some time now he is determined to get stuck into a programme of racing
that will include plenty of UCI-ranked one-day events and stage races.
“I went down to meet the team at the service course and it looks really professional; four full-time mechanics, two or three full-time soigneurs, about five full-time managers and directors,” he told stickybottle. “So it’s a step up and I think it’s the new challenge I need.”
The back injury, similar to a bulging disc, that may have
ruined any step up in his career was a souvenir from a crash while on
international duty at the Tour de l’Avenir in 2018; the season he rode for
trade team Le Col Wiggins.
While he moved to Irish Continental team EvoPro Racing for 2019 his back injury hit him hard and sidelined him for long periods. It was finally resolved with surgery in Spain in time for a clear run at the 2020 season, or so he thought, with AC Bisontine in France.
“I’d planned for a big year; I suppose everyone says
that… But the year before (2019) riding for EvoPro Racing I had a lot of back
problems and the year before that as well.
“But I got over it, I had the surgery, and then got a full winter and was going really well before the 2020 season was about to start. I really planned to hit the ground running.
“But I got out to France and did literally one race
before everything was called off due to Covid-19. So it was definitely
extremely frustrating.
“That was especially the case because I’d missed the year
before and I’m getting to the age now where big teams are looking at younger
guys all the time, so every year counts for me.
“But there was nothing I could do and there was people dying from Covid-19, so that gives you perspective. It was understandable we had no racing and I had to come home.”
When he landed back in Ireland Teggart said he tried to savour the unexpected time at home and being around his family and girlfriend. But he said he was determined not to let his condition go as he always believed he would get back racing again, if even for a short period.
He convinced himself most other riders would waver during
the down time and so he saw it as an opportunity to keep training hard and
catch up having missed so much action in 2019.
“I did a really big training block. And in the North we
had no ‘5km from home’ rule or anything like that. So I was able to train away
and do big hours, maybe a 25-hour week. So I was catching up on the year before
and making sure I’d be ready if we got a bit of racing again.
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“And in the end that’s what happened. After the summer
there was talk of racing again and I didn’t hesitate; booked the first flight I
could back to France so I could salvage something from the season.”
What followed was a purple patch; with top seven results in eight consecutive races at elite level in France was as well as a victory in Tour du Jura Suisse in Switzerland.
“It was the best form I’ve ever had,” he said. “I was climbing better than ever and still had the same strength, so I was really pleased with that. It was a few years since I’d won a bike race so it was great to get the hands in the air.”
However, while Teggart was performing well, a combination of Covid-19 and rules around the pandemic really conspired against him.
He had been told he was riding the Europeans and Worlds for Ireland. However, when the time came only carded or professional riders – meaning WorldTour or ProContinental – were permitted to represent Ireland under Sport Ireland rules so he couldn’t avail of the selection.
“I was actually in France and an hour’s train ride away from both, but Sport Ireland wouldn’t let me go because I wasn’t a professional rider and so it was regarded as unnecessary travel,” he explained.
“That also meant I couldn’t come home and do the
nationals because I would have had to quarantine,” he explained of similar
rules that didn’t allow him travel under the quarantine exemption that was
granted to carded or professional athletes.
“So I lost out a lot and given the form I had I was extremely frustrated. I weighed it up (coming home for the National Road Championships) and I would have had to sacrifice a month of racing in France for a one-day race. As prestigious as the nationals is, I just felt it wasn’t worth it.”
However, while those challenges must have felt like
running into a brick wall, the year was far from all doom and gloom.
It was marked by recovery from injury and return to top
form and now Teggart moves from AC Bisontine last year to VilleFranche
Beaujolais for 2021; the top-ranked Division 1 team in France. He has also
caught the interest of a professional team and has been in contact with them of
late.
All of those developments combined to leave him with a
sense at the end of last season he had done the right thing by going back to
France and staying there. That, in turn, meant he went into the 2020-2021
winter in good shape mentally.
And having watched the pressure his mother has been under
as an intensive care nurse during the pandemic in Northern Ireland over the
winter, Teggart trained during that period in the knowledge other people were
facing much more serious challenges in life.
“I’m just looking for a run of form now in a run of races
and to get up there and win a few of these N1 races in France in the next few
months,” he said.
Looking back on recent years he said he is very grateful
to the teams he has ridden for at Continental level – An Post-Chainreaction, Le
Col Wiggins and EvoPro Racing. However, now aged 25 years he says his next step
in cycling really must be to step up to a higher level.
“That’s what I’m after; ProConti or WorldTour. And then,
of course, to represent Ireland along the way, at the Euros and the world
champs. That’s always an honour. And without a doubt I’d like to put myself in
the running for the Olympics.
“I’d be realistic, I know it’s an outside chance, with
all the WorldTour guys we have. But I shouldn’t be far away. If I hit the
ground running and make a name for myself in France and hopefully be on the
radar of a few pro teams, that should put me in good stead for the Olympics.
“We have the big names – Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche, Eddie
Dunbar – but hopefully I can put pressure on for myself too, that’s what I’d be
hoping. Obviously, I have to hit the ground running.”
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