"To be up there racing with these guys is really cool” - Matthew Riccitello continues to show big promise by matching the best on vicious stage 4 finale at La Vuelta
Cycling
Israel - Premier Tech's Matthew Riccitello has been having a real breakthrough in recent months. After starring at the Tour de Suisse earlier this summer, the 22-year-old American matched the likes of Primoz Rogic and Joao Almeida on the first summit finish of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana.
“I think everyone suffered today,” explained Riccitello afterwards in conversation with the official website of the Israel - Premier Tech team. “I don’t think I’ve ever done a race or training ride in temperatures that hot. I think it was a good day. I didn’t really expect too much on the first mountain day because everyone is really fresh and I didn’t really know where I would stack up against the others. So I’m pretty happy with how it went today."
Read also
An elite group of just seven riders fought for the stage win of atop the brutally steep Pico Villuercas on stage 4. Alongside Riccitello were the aforementioned Roglic and Almeida, plus Mikel Landa, Enric Mas, Felix Gall and Lennert van Eetvelt. Esteemed company for the American prospect to be keeping.
“I attacked there in the last kilometre. It didn’t really do much, I didn’t really have the legs anyway, but I figured I would try and hopefully they would look at each other and let me ride off but that didn’t happen," Riccitello concludes his post-stage assessment. "But, there are 17 more stages to try something. Not so long ago I was sitting in Tucson watching these guys race the Tour de France so to be up there racing with these guys is really cool.”
After his impressive performances, Riccitello has now moved up to 12th overall in the general classification, 1:04 down on the Red Jersey, but arguably more realistically, just 26 seconds of the White Jersey for Best Young Rider.
Read also
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 1visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Mathieu and Wout!!! You must start in CX this winter! (hope you reading comments here...) ;-)averagecyclist12-11-2026
- Who made you site boss?Lozza12-11-2026
- This shows so well you’ve never ventured out to a cycling event and checked out spectators.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- I preferred the one about amateur riders and passing (perhaps to explain why he can’t ride at 220 which would probably be more effective to return to shape).Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- Not just ManU, far worse in some minority sports ventures.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- From your writing it sounds like you’ve been sharing your views with people here for quite a while, quite presumouptuous for a new profile.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- Which is amazing given his weight and size, though, unlike in boxing and some rare instances we haven’t a clue what his fighting weight was. Anybody know why these “public” figures floated around are considered as being accurate?Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- That’s a first point, everyone can have an off year or just stagnate before a new upward cycle. What would have been more interesting is including Skjelmose’s performance into the discussion, things have also been expected from him after several performances in the past but he hasn’t really progressed either, his TdF was basically what you would have expected but he’s 26 and been kind of stuck at this level for at least 2-3 years. Maybe he’s a late developer or maybe he needs something to change but as manager I’d be just as demanding and worried about both. Perhaps the recruitment concept was to have enough talent so at least one every year would be in shape and they’ve just been unlucky. Don’t want to rub it in but you could even say Mads lost a notch, so is it the riders or is it more to do with the team?Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- Bingo...I was also going to say that young pretty women are obsessed Pogi fan girls... who are chasing him. All glossy "____" (blank) about Tadej. PS: You can all fill in the "blank" yourselves, whatever you prefer. The definition of glossy is: It looks unusually shiny, glazed over, watery, or vacant/unfocused.PogiSloFans12-11-2026
- Are you able to discuss ANYTHING without making a reference back to your Special 1? It’s almost as if you’re paid by his marketing team to improve his ranking in search results.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
Loading
"𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘛𝘶𝘤𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭." - @MattRiccitello after
Write a comment