Nico Mattan

Nico Mattan

Mattan at the 1998 Paris–Tours
Personal information
Full name	Nico Mattan
Born	17 July 1971 (1971-07-17) (age 40)  Belgium
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Classics specialist
Professional team(s)
1994–1996 1997 1998 1999–2003 2004 2005–2006 2007	Lotto Mapei-GB Mapei-Bricobi Cofidis Relax-Bodysol Davitamon-Lotto 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.^{[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]

Previous Teams

• 1997-1998 : Mapei
• 1999-2003 : Cofidis
• 2004-2004 : Relax-Bodysol-Fuenlabrada
• 2005-2006 : Davitamon-Lotto
• 2007-  : DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed

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. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/apr05/wevelgem05/?id=results. Retrieved 2009-10-15. 
2. ^ "I’m not superstitious but…". dailypeloton.com. http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=10533. Retrieved 2009-10-15. 

Persondata
Name	Mattan, Nico
Alternative names
Short description	Road bicycle racer
Date of birth	1971-07-17
Place of birth	Izegem, Belgium
Date of death
Place of death