Nico Mattan

Nico Mattan

Mattan at the 1998 Paris–Tours
Personal information
Full name Nico Mattan
Born (1971-07-17) 17 July 1971
 Belgium
Team information
Current team Retired
Discipline Road
Role Classics specialist
Professional team(s)
19941996 Lotto
1997 Mapei-GB
1998 Mapei-Bricobi
19992003 Cofidis
2004 Relax-Bodysol
20052006 Davitamon-Lotto
2007 DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed
Infobox last updated on
15 October 2009

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.

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. 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]

Previous Teams

Palmares

1996
1st, Stage 1, Tour de Wallonie
2001
Prologue, Paris–Nice
1st, Three Days of De Panne
1st, Stage 3b (ITT)
1st, GP Plouay
1st, Giro del Piemonte
2003
1st, Prologue, Paris–Nice
2004
1st, Noord Nederland Tour
2005
1st, Gent–Wevelgem

References

  1. "Mattan swoops, Flecha foiled in controversial finish - 67th Gent-Wevelgem - PT". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  2. "I’m not superstitious but…". dailypeloton.com. Retrieved 2009-10-15.


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