Igor Pugaci

Igor Pugaci ( Cyrillic Игорь Пугач ; born January 5, 1975 in Dubăsari) is a former Moldovan cyclist .

Career

Igor Pugaci began his professional career in September 1998 as a stagiaire with the Italian team Saeco , having previously won the Giro della Valle d'Aosta , a high-quality stage race for riders in the U23 age group, and came second in the Italian one-day race Giro d'Oro . The following year he signed a professional contract with Saeco and was Moldovan champion in road racing and individual time trial in his first full season . He was able to defend the title in the individual time trial in the two following years. This was followed by two more years at Saeco and one season each with the Italian teams De Nardi (2004) and Universal Caffé-Styloffice (2005). In the 2006 season, when he drove for the Italian amateur team Partizan-Whistle, Pugaci won a stage on the International Presidency Turkey Tour and was third overall.

At the Giro d'Italia he started twice and in 2002 was 40th overall. He tackled the Vuelta a España four times and achieved second place on a very demanding stage to the Lagos de Covadonga in 2000 , his overall most successful year, which he was able to finish among the 200 best riders in the UCI world rankings .

After his one-year stint with the amateurs, he started for the Continental Team Cinelli-Endeka-OPD in 2007 and finally ended his professional career at the end of the season.