# 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 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. 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 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

| 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 |