Matteo Dal-Cin’s unconventional road to nationals
The 2013 Canada Summer Games gold medallist is perhaps one of the most nonchalant Canadian racers around. “I’m registered for an architectural technician program for next fall and did a fire fighting program. So I am kind of looking for a career and doing the bike-race-school thing at the moment,” said Matteo Dal-Cin of Silber Pro Cycling. Dal-Cin is well-known as a rider with enviable innate talent – especially when it comes to time trialling. He burst on to the scene first as a junior and under-23 and seems to be able to perform at an incredibly high level whenever he puts his mind to it. The Ottawa-based rider began the 2014 season with Stevens presented by the Cyclery and was recently signed by Silber Pro Cycling along with Ryan Roth.
Dal-Cin’s season in 2014 has been nothing short of fantastic, despite a setback that in a bizarre manner turned into an advantage. Dal-Cin’s season began in Arizona at the Tucson Bicycle Classic where he won the second stage when he attacked in the last kilometre. Dal-Cin had been in Tucson training prior to the race and it was well known that he was in perhaps the best shape of his life. He was preparing for the Tour of Morocco, a 10-day stage race. “The Morocco trip was pitched late in the fall of 2013. So I went down to Tucson to prepare for it and the season,” said Dal-Cin. He flew home following his stage win in Tucson, caught up with relatives then flew to Casablanca for the start of the race.
The race itself was a new experience for Dal-Cin, “Morocco was a point-to-point race everyday, so it was hectic with transfers and things like that,” reflected Dal-Cin. He was riding extremely well, although it wasn’t obvious based on results. “The first two days were wicked fast down the coast and I made the break on Day 2 for the better part of the day, but I was lacking bottles and got shed toward the end,” said Dal-Cin. Then things went a little sour in Morocco. “The tour took a turn for the worse for me as I got some sort of stomach bug and couldn’t really keep any food in me. I did the next five days on not much for food,” said Dal-Cin. He lost almost 20 lb. as a result. Dal-Cin noticed that he was suddenly a lot faster on the climbs when he returned home. “By the time my antibiotics course was finished, I was lighter than I was as a junior and the climbs were feeling unusually easy. I was pretty weak in all other manners,” joked Dal-Cin. “It turns out that the gastro illness and weight loss after a couple weeks of recovery at home isn’t the worst thing for form. I felt great and put together a month or so of good races,” said Dal-Cin.
It is worth noting that Dal-Cin, in way, fell into some fitness. However unconventional as it was, his results this year are far more likely to do with the hard training Dal-Cin put in during the winter. At the end of May, Dal-Cin finished second on the queen stage of Killington Stage Race in Vermont. He ended up finishing third overall one of the more hilly stage races around. In addition to several other top results, Dal-Cin’s performance in Vermont ultimately earned him a spot with Silber Pro Cycling ahead of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay.
Dal-Cin clearly has an uncanny ability to turn a negative into a positive. Perhaps it’s his relaxed demeanour and go-with-the-flow approach that allows him to be successful among myriad super-focused endurance athletes. His goal heading into the national championships this weekend is to have a strong time trial and a solid road race. His major target is to gain selection for the Tour of Alberta. Given his performances this year, nationals will most likely be an arena where Dal-Cin will impress again.
