“Far away from the most northern countries, here comes the Viking, ready to win everything. These few words could fit one of the most impressive Icelandic cyclists that ever existed and that I ever trained, Falur Arnviður Sigfinursson.
I’ve spent all my young years with Falur's parents, the vigorous Sigfinnur Gunnarsson and the beautiful Pálmfríður Arnviðursdóttir, a modest and very humble people. I still ask myself how they were able to raise such an arrogant but talented cyclist like him. Anyway, I’ll always remember how the hot-headed teen joined our team. We were training as usual around Hlíðarfjall and suddenly, a young redheaded guy overtook us and launched us these few word “Hey guys, the retirement castle is the other way”. I was the only one able to catch up this fool. The next day he joined Lundar.
To be honest, he wasn’t the most impressive rider I...
Read more“Far away from the most northern countries, here comes the Viking, ready to win everything. These few words could fit one of the most impressive Icelandic cyclists that ever existed and that I ever trained, Falur Arnviður Sigfinursson.
I’ve spent all my young years with Falur's parents, the vigorous Sigfinnur Gunnarsson and the beautiful Pálmfríður Arnviðursdóttir, a modest and very humble people. I still ask myself how they were able to raise such an arrogant but talented cyclist like him. Anyway, I’ll always remember how the hot-headed teen joined our team. We were training as usual around Hlíðarfjall and suddenly, a young redheaded guy overtook us and launched us these few word “Hey guys, the retirement castle is the other way”. I was the only one able to catch up this fool. The next day he joined Lundar.
To be honest, he wasn’t the most impressive rider I’ve trained. He could hardly find the correct position while climbing easy hills, had a bad stamina and an awful food diet. However, his self-confidence was quite impressive. Quickly he improved and made our first captain, Davið Svanbergursson, look ridiculous. Davið was really jealous of Falur’s results and improvement and the relationship between the two riders became so tense that I had to separate them from fights several times.
I knew Falur was not happy. We agreed on a deal with Die Tour Phantome and Falur left Iceland for the Netherlands. He was 26 and I was sure he could help a Top Division team in important Tours, but I never thought he was capable of the things he did.
As expected, the first seasons where complicated. He did a lot in the Volta ao Porto and the Castillos and we were really proud of his results. However, there was a high expectation in Iceland around Falur. The absence of victories made the local press calling him “Failure”. It was quite unfair but it didn’t seem to affect Falur. I was told he even made a lot of fun of press conferences. Before his thirties, he accomplished the dream of any manager by winning the Vuelta de los Castillos. I was also quite impressed by the ability of Sir Alexx to successfully manage Falur and always get the best of him. With this victory and all his work, Falur Sigfinnursson became the flagship of the Icelandic cycling by being a model for a generation of Icelanders, who recognized themselves in this arrogant, hot-headed but talented and hard-worker Akureyri’s child.
Nowadays, no one knows where he is. Maybe is he managing a hotel in Okinawa or in Goa, maybe is he hiding around Grímsey Island spotting puffins. Nobody knows, but it doesn’t matter. Falur Sigfinnursson will be remembered as one of the strongest riders of his generation and one of the most influent sportsmen in Iceland."
Memories from Aaron A. Aaronsson, first trainer of Falur A. Sigfinnursson.
Iceland