This Pure Climber Could Be America’s Next Tour de France Star

Rising American prospect Matthew Riccitello wasted no time putting victories on the board in his season debut after his high-profile, career-shifting transfer to Decathlon CMA CGM.

On the wet, sloppy slopes of Montagne de Lure in snowbound Provence, he put the sword to Tour de France stage winner Carlos Rodríguez to win the stage and sealed his second career GC title the next day.

At just 23, his sharpened confidence reveals the next phase in Riccitello’s steady rise is already here.

Following his breakout Vuelta a España in 2025, with fifth overall and the white jersey, he is no longer a promising climber finding his footing.

He’s now at the center of a major WorldTour team’s plans.

“Racing with the best guys last year at the Vuelta gave me a lot of confidence,” Riccitello told Velo. “I still feel quite young physically, so hopefully I have room to mature and grow both as a person and as a bike rider. It’s all about progression and momentum.”

Entering his fourth year in the pros, it’s been all that and more for Riccitello.

Last year’s Vuelta result also placed him in elite company in U.S. cycling history.

Only Greg LeMond, Andy Hampsten, and Tejay Van Garderen have claimed white jerseys in elite men’s grand tour racing.

What’s next for America’s newest rising star? Velo caught up with Riccitello in an exclusive interview.

Chasing American racing history

Riccitello is too modest to say it out loud, but he wants to win a grand tour.

Last year, he was bumping shoulders with Jonas Vingegaard and João Almeida, and held steady across a controversial and chaotic Vuelta that saw his then-team Israel-Premier Tech at the eye of a political hurricane.

That he could block that out and focus on racing confirms his maturity beyond his age.

“I’m really happy with how the Vuelta went,” Riccitello told Velo. “I tried to stay focused on the racing. This year, I want to take all the positives and all the negatives from that race and keep building for the future.”

In the short term, a podium is the logical target as Decathlon rebuilds around a new generation that puts Riccitello at the center of the team’s GC plans alongside rising French star Paul Seixas and Johannes Staune-Mittet.

“I’d say it’s attainable,” Riccitello said of a future grand tour podium. “Before the Vuelta, I would have said that would have been a bit of a stretch. But there were some days at the Vuelta where I felt like I was right there with the top guys.

“They [top GC winners] have definitely got a step above me, but I think I can try to close that gap as I mature and get older, and keep learning from the races.”

It’s heady stuff, and Riccitello is taking it with a calm beyond his years.

Turning 24 next month, Riccitello’s Vuelta bolted him into elite company among elite men’s racing.

A top 5 finish in a men’s grand tour remains a rare milestone for Americans racing in Europe. Riccitello became only the 10th to reach it (see chart below).

For 2026, Riccitello wants to keep pushing the accelerator.

“The most important thing this year is continued momentum and progression. It would be nice to put my hands in the air one or twice this year,” he said in a call last week.

“I wouldn’t say I have one specific goal in mind, just in general, keep getting better.”

Big move to Decathlon

His departure from IPT (now NSN Cycling) to the French super squad Decathlon is a huge next step in his career.

Now he’s firmly in the WorldTour, and he will be one of the designated GC leaders at select races on a three-year deal.

“It’s the first time I’ve changed teams, so it’s interesting to be a part of a new team, a new project, meet new staff, have new teammates,” Riccitello said. “It’s all exciting and good for me right now in my career.”

Why Decathlon? He had other suitors, and the climbing prodigy was attracting attention, but by the time he hit out at the Vuelta, the deal with Decathlon was already done.

“Last year, I was in the process of talking to different teams and looking at my options, and Decathlon was very ambitious. I liked where they saw me and where they saw themselves as a team in the next few years,” he said. “My goals and the team’s goals aligned perfectly. That’s what really drew me to the team.”

What are those converging goals? For Riccitello, it’s the progression in grand tours. For the reinvigorated squad, it’s about edging into the conversation in all the major races across the WorldTour calendar.

The team is doubling down. With new sponsors, revamped backroom staff, and an explicit aim to crack the top five in the WorldTour hierarchy, Decathlon is investing heavily in the super team era.

Now owned outright by the global, family-run retailer and bolstered by the arrival of partner CMA CGM, the budget is pushing north of €40 million to target grand tour and monument success.

Riccitello said no single staffer tipped the balance, though he did seek insight from Larry Warbasse, who previously raced with the team before moving to Tudor Pro Cycling.

“Larry had great things to say,” he said. “The team now is really international. We all speak English around the dinner table, but I am trying to improve my French. It’s definitely got to have a strong French base, but it feels like it’s growing a lot.”

The deal runs through 2029. He also brought across his personal coach Marc Quod, a veteran of Jayco-AlUla and Israel-Premier Tech, ensuring continuity as expectations rise.

Everything is now in place.

From Arizona to the Cote d’Azur

Riccitello is a long way from Tucson, Arizona, also the home of Brandon McNulty, where he grew up and still calls home.

His father, Jimmy Riccitello, was a highly accomplished professional triathlete, an XTerra world champion who broke nine minutes at Ironman Hawaii a generation ago.

Endurance sport was part of his upbringing, even if cycling was not his first choice. He did not start racing bikes until he was 14, late by European standards.

“I got into it a bit later than normally, and my dad was a professional triathlete, so I grew up around the sport. The Tour de France was always on TV in the summer, so that was definitely my first exposure to racing,” he said. “When I was 14, I decided I wanted to start racing bikes.”

Key mentors accelerated the process. First his father, then Roy Knickman at LUX Cycling — the junior team that developed such WorldTour talent as Kevin Vermaerke, Quinn Simmons and Luke Lamperti — and later Axel Merckx at Hagens Berman Axeon.

Riccitello got noticed early, but he also delivered on results.

“Roy noticed me in some junior races, and he sent me an email, and that helped me get over to Europe with the U.S. national team,” he said. “It was a pretty straightforward pathway to get over to Europe and race in the U23 races and get noticed by some of the pro teams.”

When he turned pro with Israel-Premier Tech in 2023, he made a deliberate choice about where to base himself. He purposely avoided the cycling hotbed of Girona, Spain, where many of the Anglo riders have settled over the decades, and instead chose France’s Côte d’Azur.

“There’s a good group of riders around Nice. Everyone is a little more spread out compared to Girona. Like we’re all close, we all can ride together, but it’s not like everybody stacked on top of each other,” he said of his French base.

“I like the riding much better in Nice than in Girona. There’s more climbing in Nice, the weather’s good, and it doesn’t feel like a bubble like in Girona.”

The famed Col de la Madone is his favorite local climb, where he often crosses paths with world No. 1 Tadej Pogačar, who lives in nearby Monaco.

Grand tour dreaming

So is he a GC rider who can climb, or a pure climber who can punch high on GC?

At 5-foot-6 and 121 pounds, the answer is obvious.

“Definitely, climbing is my strength,” he said. “Also, resiliency and just being able to be good two weeks into a race is another strength, so I think those are the reasons why I feel best in the grand tours.”

At last year’s Vuelta, he was hanging in the top 15 until a massive ride up the fearsome Angliru punched him into the top 10. His battle for the white jersey against Giulio Pellizzari went to the wire when he cracked the Italian on the Bola del Mundo on the penultimate stage.

His featherweight build will help him on the HC summits of the Alps and Pyrénées, but it can be a handicap in the flats and against the clock.

At last year’s protest-shortened 12km time trial at the Vuelta, he lost 1 second per kilometer to Almeida, but was faster than third-place podium finisher Tom Pidcock.

Ricctello admits he’s putting a big emphasis on improving his TT chops if he hopes to climb up the GC hierarchy.

“I know I’m never going to be the best time trialist in the world, but I feel like on this team we’re going to put a big focus on it,” he said. “I’m hoping to minimize the losses and just keep getting better.”

After his season-opening win, he’s going to keep building momentum all spring. Up next are one-week tours at the Algarve, Volta a Catalunya, and Itzulia Basque Country, followed by the Critérium du Dauphiné (now Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)
in June.

If he is flying, a late call-up to the Tour de France cannot be ruled out.

“We’ll kind of see after the Dauphiné,” he said. “I’d say for now the Vuelta is the, is the big, big goal, the big grand tour I’ll do this year.”

At just 23, Riccitello has already broken into rare American territory.

With his climbing chops, week-three resilience, and a WorldTour team backing him, he is no longer knocking at the door. He is on the cusp of pushing it wide open.

Top 5 Americans in grand tours