Top rider on Irish scene, Cigala wins Gran Fondo Strade Bianche in Siena

Well-known racing cyclist and coach on the Irish road scene, Matteo Cigala, has won the Gran Fondo Strade Bianche in Italy. The event goes over the same roads - and gravel sectors - as the professional race held in March each season.

Cigala, a 28-year-old Italian who lives and races in Ireland, went for broke up the final climb of Via Santa Caterina into Siena. He attacked the group he was in after 2½ hours of hard riding through the rolling Tuscan hills.  

Once he proved strongest on that final ascent, putting daylight between himself and most of those he was with, he then powered across the false flat over the top. The riders dropped downhill for the final few hundred metres to the iconic finish line setting in Piazza del Campo, where a delighted Cigala celebrated his win.

He took victory by just one second from the only other rider in the lead group who could hold him on the climb; Carlo Muraro (Argon 18 Hicari Stemax). The runner-up banged his bars in frustration at being beaten by Cigala, who rides for Dan Morrissey-MIG-Pactimo in Ireland.

Another Italian rider, Simone Lanzillo of Di Giola Cycling Team, took the final place on the podium, just six seconds down on winner Cigala.

The next seven riders over the line were all in the lead group as the final climb began and they finished seconds apart. Just 34 seconds covered 1st to 10th, though the next rider was two minutes down.

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There were two routes at the Gran
Fondo Strade Bianche on Sunday. The ‘Gran Fondo’ route was the longest, at
139.2km. That included 31.6km of gravel roads and was the same route as the pro
women’s race every March.

The second route was the shorter ‘Medio Fondo’, which is the event Cigala won. It is 86.6km and featured 21.6km of gravel roads in six sectors, the longest of which was 8km. It also had 1,500 metres of climbing. Between 5,000 and 6,000 riders compete in the two events combined each year.

Cigala is currently on an extended stay in his native
Italy, with the Gran Fondo Strade Bianche at the weekend just one of the events
he is taking in while he is away.

He represented Italy on the road as a younger rider, including in the Worlds as a junior in Copenhagen 10 years ago.

After moving to Ireland he began a coaching business, Cigala Cycling, and a cycling holiday company and has raced on the domestic scene. He topped the Cycling Ireland A1 rankings in 2017 just two years after he first started racing in Ireland in the colours of Navan Road Club.

We’ll catch up with him in coming days to discuss his win and the other Italian Gran Fondos he has been riding of late.

Gran Fondo Strade Bianche: Medio Fondo

1. CIGALA MATTEO TEAN DAN MORRISEY 2:22:54
2. MURARO CARLO ARGON 18 HICARI STEMAX 2:22:55
3. LANZILLO SIMONE DI GIOIA CYCLING TEAM 2:23:00
4. MERLI ALBERTO ASD PEDALE GODIASCHESE 2:23:06
5. POCCIANTI MARCO G.S. POCCIANTI ACD 2:23:08
6. LODA NICOLA ASD SPORTIVAMENTE TEAM 2:23:11
7. MORDINI MARCO ARGON 18 HICARI STEMAX 2:23:15
8. MAGON DAVIDE ALÉ CIPOLLINI 2:23:21
9. SCOPETANI GIULIO VITAM-IN CYCLING TEAM ASD 2:23:22
10. SIVO MARCO ASD TEAM CICLOAMATORI 2:23:29
11. COSTARELLI FEDERICO DI GIOIA CYCLING TEAM 2:24:54
12. EBENE MARCO 2:27:11
13. STAVOLA SANTINO INDIVIDUALE 2:27:13
14. MOTALLI FABIO BIKE EVO 2:27:15
15. BENEFICATI LORENZO A.S.D. IMOLA BIKE 2:27:30
16. CIANCAGLINI NICOLA LUCIO ASD MONTENERO BIKE 2:28:59
17. HOUBEN KRISTOF storex gf team 2:29:17
18. BETTINI FRANCESCO ASD Enough Cycling collective 2:30:09
19. MARIOTTINI MARCO A.S.D. CICLISTICA SENESE 2:30:14
20. ZUGARINI SIMONE A.S.D. CICLISTICA SENESE 2:30:25

• For full results please follow this link