Ariel Maximiliano Richeze Araquistain (born 7 March 1983) is an Argentine professional cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2006 until January 2023. Richeze won the silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games (Men's Team Pursuit). His brothers Roberto, Mauro and Adrián are also cyclists.

Maximiliano Richeze
Richeze at the 2023 Vuelta a San Juan
Personal information
Full nameAriel Maximiliano Richeze Araquistain
NicknameAtomico[1]
Born (1983-03-07) 7 March 1983 (age 41)
Bella Vista, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height1.77 m (5 ft 9 12 in)[2]
Weight68 kg (150 lb; 10 st 10 lb)[2]
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider type
  • Sprinter
  • Lead-out man
Professional teams
2006–2009Ceramica Panaria–Navigare
2011–2012D'Angelo & Antenucci–Nippo
2013–2015Lampre–Merida
2016–2019Etixx–Quick-Step[3]
2020–2022UAE Team Emirates[4][5]
Major wins
One-day races and Classics
National Road Race Championships (2019)
Medal record
Representing  Argentina
Men's road cycling
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2019 Lima Road race
Pan American Championships
Gold medal – first place 2012 Mar del Plata Road race
Silver medal – second place 2018 San Juan Road race
Men's track cycling
Pan American Games
Silver medal – second place 2015 Toronto Team Pursuit

Biography

edit

Richeze was born in Bella Vista. In his first season as a professional racer, he obtained the second position in the last stage of the 2006 Giro d'Italia, finishing some centimetres behind Robert Förster. He is considered to be the Argentine cyclist to obtain the best result in any of the three main cycling tours (the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España), since naturalised Lucien Petit-Breton raced for France, Argentine-born Juan Antonio Flecha raced for Spain, and Alejandro Borrajo only achieved a third place, also at the Giro.

In the 2007 Giro d'Italia Richeze placed 3rd on Stage 3 and 2nd on Stage 18 and 21, all of which were won by Alessandro Petacchi. But after the disqualification of Petacchi in May 2008 for doping, Richeze was declared the winner of stages 18 and 21 of that Giro.

Among his other achievements are the first position of Stage 1 and other second positions in the 2006 Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, and the 2005 Trofeo Arvedi of the Circuito del Porto in Portugal. Also in 2005 he won the Panamerican under-23 Championship, and in 2003 he became the Argentine under-23 champion.

In 2010 he was granted the Konex Award Merit Diploma as one of the five best cyclist of the last decade in Argentina.

In October 2015, after spending 11 seasons riding professionally for Italian teams, Belgian squad Etixx–Quick-Step announced that Richeze would join them from 2016 on a two-year contract, with a role as a lead-out man for Marcel Kittel and Fernando Gaviria.[6] After four years without a victory he won the fourth stage at the 2016 Tour de Suisse and also won the points classification for his new team.

Doping

edit

Before the start of the 2008 Giro d'Italia Richeze tested positive for a steroid named stanozolol which resulted in his expulsion from the race. Despite being initially cleared by the Argentine Cycling Federation he was banned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for two years.[7]

Major results

edit
2003
1st   Kilo, National Track Championships
2nd Overall Clásica del Oeste-Doble Bragado
1st Stage 6
2004
Vuelta Ciclista Lider al Sur
1st Stages 2a & 4a
1st Stage 2 Clásica del Oeste-Doble Bragado
2005
1st   Road race, Pan American Under-23 Road Championships
1st Circuito del Porto
Clásica del Oeste-Doble Bragado
1st Stages 1 & 6b
1st Stage 2 Giro del Veneto
1st Stage 9 Vuelta a San Juan
2nd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
2nd Piccola Coppa Agostoni
7th Gran Premio della Liberazione
2006
1st Stage 1 Tour de Langkawi
2007
1st Stage 1 Tour de Luxembourg
1st Stage 2 Tour de Langkawi
1st Stage 4 Giro del Trentino
1st Stage 4 Vuelta a San Juan
4th Grand Prix de Rennes
5th Gran Premio Città di Misano – Adriatico
2008
1st Stage 2 Tour de San Luis
1st Stage 7 Tour of Turkey
3rd Trofeo Laigueglia
4th Giro di Toscana
6th Giro del Piemonte
7th Grand Prix de Rennes
9th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
1st Stage 5
2011
Okolo Slovenska
1st   Points classification
1st Stages 1, 6 & 7
4th Overall Tour de Kumano
1st Prologue
5th GP Kranj
6th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi
2012
1st   Road race, Pan American Road Championships
1st   Overall Tour de Hokkaido
1st   Points classification
1st Stages 2 & 3
Tour de Serbie
1st   Points classification
1st Stages 1, 5 & 6
1st Stage 1 Tour of Japan
3rd Overall Tour de Korea
3rd Coppa Bernocchi
4th Overall Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria
5th Overall Tour de Kumano
1st   Points classification
1st Stage 1
5th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi
8th Overall Vuelta a Venezuela
1st   Points classification
1st Stages 1, 7, 8 & 10
2013
Pan American Track Championships
1st   Scratch
1st   Team pursuit
1st Prologue Vuelta a San Juan
2015
2nd   Team pursuit, Pan American Games
2016
Tour de Suisse
1st   Points classification
1st Stage 4
1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tour de San Luis
2nd Eschborn-Frankfurt – Rund um den Finanzplatz
3rd Grand Prix Impanis-Van Petegem
2017
Vuelta a San Juan
1st Stages 6 & 7
5th Paris–Tours
6th EuroEyes Cyclassics
8th Eschborn–Frankfurt – Rund um den Finanzplatz
2018
1st Stage 1 Presidential Tour of Turkey
1st Stage 4 Vuelta a San Juan
2nd   Road race, Pan American Road Championships
2019
1st   Road race, Pan American Games
1st   Road race, National Road Championships

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

edit
Grand Tour 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
  Giro d'Italia 138 92 DNF 127 148 DNF 137 142
  Tour de France DNF 144 135 149
  Vuelta a España 141 138 152 148
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Maximiliano Richeze". Quick-Step Floors. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Maximiliano Richeze, Deceuninck - Quick-Step Cycling team". Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  3. ^ Torrego, José María (23 December 2018). "El Deceuninck Quick Step busca no sucumbir del cetro mundial del ciclismo en 2019" [The Deceuninck Quick Step seeks not to succumb from the cycling world title in 2019]. La Guía del Ciclismo (in Spanish). Digipress Ibérica SL. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  4. ^ "UAE Team Emirates complete 2020 roster with re-signing of former world champion Rui Costa". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  5. ^ "UAE Team Emirates". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Etixx-QuickStep sign Richeze to lead out Kittel". cyclingnews.com. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  7. ^ CQ Ranking
edit