Maximiliano Richeze

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.

Biography
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 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. 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
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.

Major results

 * 2003
 * 1st MaillotArgentina.png 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 PanAmericanJersey.png 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 Jersey green.svg 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 PanAmericanJersey.png Road race, Pan American Road Championships
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour de Hokkaido
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 2 & 3
 * Tour de Serbie
 * 1st Jersey green.svg 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 Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stage 1
 * 5th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi
 * 8th Overall Vuelta a Venezuela
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1, 7, 8 & 10


 * 2013
 * Pan American Track Championships
 * 1st PanAmericanJersey.png Scratch
 * 1st PanAmericanJersey.png Team pursuit
 * 1st Prologue Vuelta a San Juan


 * 2015
 * 2nd Silver medal blank.svg Team pursuit, Pan American Games


 * 2016
 * Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Jersey black.svg 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 Silver medal america.svg Road race, Pan American Road Championships


 * 2019
 * 1st Gold medal blank.svg Road race, Pan American Games
 * 1st MaillotArgentina.png Road race, National Road Championships