For Matthew Riccitello, the ‘pain cave’ felt like home.
As he rode his Van Rysel between a sea of screaming spectators waving flags, banners and fists on Alpe d’Huez in the French Alps – the 19th stage of the Tour de France, which earned its aggressive nickname for being a particularly steep and extended climb – a comforting feeling of familiarity swept over the 24-year-old Tucsonan.
The spiraling, narrow road was one of the first he and his dad rode together in Europe when Riccitello was a teenager.
Ten years later, in the middle of navigating extreme heat, high heart rate and the chaotic crowd, Riccitello locked eyes with his father. This time, Jimmy Riccitello stood by the sidelines and proudly watched his son fly by, leading the most famous bike race in the world.
“To be in the front of the Tour de France, riding on these roads that I knew, and then also my family was there watching – for me, this was the most fun I had the whole race,” Riccitello said.
Riccitello completed his first ever Tour de France on July 26, riding over 2,000 miles across 21 stages in Spain and France. Of the 184 competitors from across the globe, he was the only rider in the peloton representing the Old Pueblo.
As the son of a former stellar triathlete, Matthew Riccitello was born into endorphin-chasing – also known as endurance sports. Growing up, he was part of the Tucson-based swim club Ford Aquatics, ran cross-country and track and played basketball.
For as long as he can remember, however, the summer tradition at the Riccitello house was to gather around the TV to watch the Tour de France.
“The Tour de France was something I always watched in the summer, even before I really started cycling,” Riccitello said. “It's the one race that I think is bigger than the sport itself, in a way. It's the one race that everyone knows about. When I found out I was racing it, I kind of had to remember all those times I was watching the race when I was younger before I even knew I wanted to be a cyclist.”
In everything Riccitello did athletically, he chased the highest levels. When he played basketball, he dreamed of being in the NBA. As a swimmer, he hoped to qualify for the Olympics. At the age of 14, the love of cycling took over, and put different goals on his horizon.
“Just the feeling of riding a bike and doing two or three hours outside was a lot different and more satisfying to me than swimming in a pool and just going back and forth,” he said.
He joined the Tucson-based youth club cycling group El Grupo. The “shirts and shorts” club welcomed anyone with various levels of experience.
“I don't think there are many clubs like this in the U.S. where it's that easy to get access to a bicycle and get access to clothes,” Riccitello said. “It's not an easy sport to get into, and El Grupo and Tucson made it pretty easy to start, so I definitely owe a lot to them. I think one of the big reasons I was able to get into the sport and then start racing and catch the attention of other teams in Europe was in large part to El Grupo.”
As he spent more and more time on his bike, Riccitello got to know every corner of Mount Lemmon, Saguaro National Park and Gates Pass, and became a “frequent flyer” in the local Shootout group ride in the winter. It didn’t take too long until he traded the shorts and shirts to aero bike kits and carbon-framed bikes.
This summer, on his 10-year anniversary in the sport, he lined up to compete at the most prestigious bike race in the world, representing the French Decathlon CMA CGM team.
As a rookie Tour rider, Riccitello described the race as something “new, but not so new.”
“All these guys that lined up I've raced before,” he said. “On one hand, it's just another bike race. And then on the other hand, it's quite a bit bigger than the others. I just tried to keep that in my mind while I was there, not to get too caught up on how big it was.”
As a specialized climber, Riccitello’s role during the three-week race was to help his teammate Paul Seixas, the 19-year-old French prodigy, in the high mountain stages. He was often sent to the back of the peloton to get water bottles and rode in the front to “take a bit of wind” to support Seixas, who finished 4th overall.
“The team went to the race with such high goals and ambitions,” he said. “We went with wanting to win at least one stage and also with Paul Seixas wanting to finish as high up as possible in the overall classification with him, and so pretty much every day we had a goal – we weren't just at the race to be there, we were there to do well. So with that comes a bit of pressure, but that's part of any job, and most of it is really enjoyable.”
At the end of the three-week-long grand tour, Riccitello impressed by finishing 24th overall. He enjoyed the experience so much, he hopes to come back for seconds.
“Everyone says that while you’re racing the Tour, you think ‘I'm never coming back, I'm never doing this again’ and then two days later you're like, ‘OK I'm ready to go back,’” he said. “For me, there were times in the Tour that weren't so enjoyable, but 90% of it was. I definitely am already looking forward to going back whether it's next year or the year after.”
Riccitello will be back in the saddle riding in the La Vuelta España in August, where he is eager to come home with an improved result from last year’s fifth place.
In the upcoming years, he hopes to “keep it simple” and improve one pedal stroke at a time.
“It's easy to enjoy the sport when you're progressing, and luckily I've made small steps every year and keep getting better,” he said. “That's my goal to get better as long as I can.”
