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Sigma Sport Specialized Cycling Team's Matt Stephens INTERVIEW

by Holly Blades

The morning after the Cyclosport End of Season Party, myself and Sigma Sport–Specialized Cycling Team's Matt Stephens, both more than slightly worse for wear, holed up in that hangover mecca Burger King, and had a chat about the team's performance in 2011 and their aims for 2012, including an exclusive from the former Giro d'Italia rider and British National Champion.

Matt Stephens has ridden with Team Sigma Sport for eleven seasons now, following a year with the ill-fated Linda McCartney Racing Team. Two of those eleven years has seen Team Sigma Sport ride as a UCI registered team. “Sigma Sport has a brand ethic that is shared by [sponsors] Specialized and Mercedes, which they bring into the team environment. We're very nurturing!” He says, “Steve Lampier has even indirectly introduced the 'Team Hug' initiative. Even if it's only a hug via text, we're there for each other.” he adds, tongue firmly in cheek.

2011 began with Sigma Sport's thirteen man team heading to Wales for a three day ride in wintery Snowdonia where, Matt claims, it was nice to just have an “uneventful time” after being stuck in a snow drift the previous year. From the wilds of Wales it was on to slightly sunnier Tuscany for their annual training camp.

Rider Tom Copeland blogged about the training camp for cycling travel company La Fuga, saying “With seven days of training in the rolling Tuscan countryside, this allowed for two solid blocks with a well earned easy day mid-week.Conveniently the rest day was the wettest day of the stay. Was this planned as well?! The Tuscan roads are perfect with very little traffic to deal with and a great mix of flat, rolling and hilly roads with some long climbs allowing the team to perform some long efforts to test the form. By the end of the week everybody looked ready for a few easy days!”

The first big race of the year also saw the crash that would have the biggest impact on the team for the 2011 season. During the Paris-Troyes, a fifty man crash saw five members of Team Sigma Sport hit the deck. In an attempt to avoid the pile up, Matt swerved onto the grass only to collide with a lamp post at 40mph. It was an accident that left him with a fractured left shin and tibial plateau which still requires physio, and would see him off a bike until the Tour of Britain recce in August. It was a crushing blow to the team, right at the beginning of a long season.

But, onwards and upwards, Ireland's An Post Ras was next on the calendar as training for the Tour of Britain, and the team could be forgiven for feeling optimistic after Simon Richardson and Steve Lampier both finished within the Top 10 overall.

Things were going just as well on this side of the Irish sea in the Halford's Tour Series as Steve Lampier managed to wrestle the Boardman Bikes Sprint Competition jersey from long-standing owner Twenty Three C Orbea’s Marcel Sixt. Perhaps suffering from the Paris-Troyes loss of Matt Stephens and Russell Hampton, who was also left unable to ride for several months, the team weren't as successful as would have been hoped in the Premier Calendar season but with Simon Richardson finishing second in the Richmond Grand Prix and a hatful of solid top 10’s from Steve Lampier and young Tom Last, who was having a breakthrough year, all was not lost.

The NCRS, or National Criterium Series, was a return to form though, as Tom Murray finished third overall despite never actually winning any of the seven events – Something Matt puts down to his consistency and two podium finishes! He also achieved a third place finish in the National Circuit Race Championship in Beverley with Steve Adams rounding out the top 10 after a superb team effort on the night.

With the Olympics looming on the horizon, Team Sigma Sport sent a five man team to the Pre-Olympic London-Surrey test event, although choosing only five riders for the team proved a tough task, the squad excelled with Tom Murray in the break for most of the day. “The crowds were overwhelming”, Matt says, and with the route passing through Kingston, he points out “It's going to be great to see the Olympics go past the Sigma store!”

The Sigma Sport Store, Kingston

Prior to the big event on the team's calendar, the Tour of Britain, there was a four day training camp which took in Stages 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the route including the crucial and technical Devon stage. This proved to be Matt's first time back on the bike post Paris-Troyes crash, and although he admits he got dropped on all of the climbs, he says “It was great to be back out with the lads again. Hard work, but a good laugh regardless.”

With an extra 600k in their legs following the route recce, the Tour of Britain proved to be extremely successful for the team, with Russell Hampton wearing the King of the Mountains jersey for four days and featuring in several breakaways. The penultimate stage in Sandringham saw a 6th place finish for Wouter Sybrandy. It was performances like this that led Matt to claim Team Sigma Sport received the most exposure out of the British teams, for the impression they made on the race.

Team Sigma Sport (Including the KOM Jersey) at The Tour of Britain

It was a learning curve for Matt as Team Manager as well, “Driving the team car was a huge eye opener. I learned lots of lessons, not least how to fit an expensive motor through some very tight gaps!”

The physio on his injured leg means it's another year off of the bike in 2012. It's when questioned about his temporary role of Team Manager that Matt leans, slightly conspiratorially, over the table. “Although my career has ended on a sour note, I now realise I'm far more comfortable in my role as manager.”

“Is that an exclusive?” I ask. “That you're retiring?” He pauses for a moment.

“I suppose it is.”

And here is that statement in full:

"After a wonderfully fulfilling and enjoyable career spanning four decades I have decided to hang up my racing wheels. Crashing in the way I did was not exactly how I had planned to end things but that is the cruel nature of this brutally hard yet spectacularly beautiful sport of ours. I have experienced enough 'in the saddle' pain and misery over the last 24 years to make even Morrissey and Ted Hughes wince yet these experiences when held in polar contrast have made my few successes all the more sweeter. The travel and racing across the world, immersion in different cultures, crashes, breaks and scars are now all part of who I am today.

To have ridden in the 'stripes' as National Road Race Champion for a year was an honour as was riding the Giro and representing my country at the Olympics and numerous World Championships. However, what will stay with me the most are the many enduring friendships I have made. I'm now looking forward to some fresh challenges and feel as excited as I did when I first donned my race kit in 1990 for ACBB.. Managing the wonderfully spirited guys at the Sigma Sport - Specialized Cycling Team is something I'm super motivated for so 2012 can't come quickly enough. It's hardly retiring at all.."

The team out for a training ride

There will be a few new faces for the new full time team manager to welcome to the team as well, with the 2012 eleven man roster featuring at least four new signings including former U23 British Time Trial Champion Andrew Griffiths and Team Pursuit Olympic medallist Stephen Burke, of whom Matt says “The home Olympics in 2012? British medal winner? Lovely lad? It's a no brainer.”

That's not to say he won't have his work cut out, as the 2012 calendar is just as busy as the year just gone. Concentration will be on the National Crits, the Tour of Britain, the Tour Series (subject to invite) and the Premier Calendar with several UCI events yet to be confirmed, including the An Post Ras.

Also, in an attempt to find ways to promote the team, Matt will be working with Sigma Sport's new marketing manager – one approach including team riders becoming familiar faces at UK Sportive Events. You could soon be riding alongside the team, so watch this space!

Images from http://www.teamsigmasport.co.uk/sigma/