Nico Mattan (born 17 July 1971) is a Belgian former road racing cyclist. His greatest achievement in cycling was winning the Gent–Wevelgem classic in 2005.
 Mattan at the 1998 Paris–Tours | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Nico Mattan |
| Born | 17 July 1971 Izegem, Belgium |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Classics specialist |
| Professional teams | |
| 1994–1996 | Lotto |
| 1997–1998 | Mapei–GB |
| 1999–2003 | Cofidis |
| 2004 | Relax–Bodysol |
| 2005–2006 | Davitamon–Lotto |
| 2007 | DFL–Cyclingnews–Litespeed |
In 2005 Mattan won the Gent–Wevelgem in a controversial way, as there were claims that he used Publicity cars to sprint past Juan Antonio Flecha.[1] He also won 2 prologues of Paris–Nice, in 2001 and 2003.
He is known to be very superstitious, for instance his lucky number is 17 (the date of his birthdate), if his race number is 17 or if the ciphers add up to 17, he will look very happy and believes he will win.[citation needed] Once he got number 13 and wore it upside down to avoid bad luck because he heard on a 13th that he wouldn't be able to race anymore because of heart problems and lost the leader's jersey in Paris–Nice on a 13th.[2]
Major results
edit- 1996
- 1st Stage 1 Tour de Wallonie
- 2001
- 1st Overall Three Days of De Panne
- 1st Stage 3b (ITT)
- 1st Prologue Paris–Nice
- 1st GP Ouest–France
- 1st Giro del Piemonte
- 2003
- 1st Prologue Paris–Nice
- 2004
- 1st Noord Nederland Tour
- 2005
- 1st Gent–Wevelgem
References
edit- ^ "Mattan swoops, Flecha foiled in controversial finish – 67th Gent-Wevelgem – PT". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
- ^ "I'm not superstitious but…". dailypeloton.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
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