Maximiliano Richeze

Maximiliano Richeze
	File:Harelbeke - E3 Harelbeke, 27 maart 2015 (D03).JPG Richeze at the 2015 E3 Harelbeke.
Personal information
Full name	Ariel Maximiliano Richeze
Born	7 March 1983 (age 41); Bella Vista, Argentina
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Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Team information
Current team	Quick-Step Floors
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Professional team(s)
2006–2009	Ceramica Panaria–Navigare
2011–2012	D'Angelo & Antenucci–Nippo
2013–2015	Lampre–Merida
2016–	Etixx–Quick-Step
	Representing Argentina
Pan American Games
	Infobox last updated on; 9 April 2016

Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (born 7 March 1983 in Bella Vista) is an Argentine professional cyclist who rides for Quick-Step Floors. Maximiliano won the silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games (Men's Team Pursuit).

Biography

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 nationalized Lucien Petit-Breton raced for France, Argentina 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 by doping, Richeze was declared the winner of stages 18 and 21 of that Giro.

Among his other achievements are the first position of the Stage 1 and other second positions in the 2006 Le 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 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.^[1]

Doping

Before the start of the 2008 Giro d'Italia Richeze tested positive for a steroid named stanozolo 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.^[2]