Ever-praised Riccitello makes his mark in the Vuelta: "Glad I wasn’t dropped by Vingegaard"

Riccitello was 56th in his 2023 grand tour debut and finished 30th in the Vuelta last year. He has been riding rock hard uphill for several years, but still lacked some body for the hard watts on the flat or in technical descents. So it was "only" this year that he recorded his first two victories as a pro in the Sibiu Cycling Tour, winning a stage and the overall classification. He also finished fifth in the Tour of Switzerland in 2024, fourth in the Tour de l'Avenir in 2023.

So it was possible, and a punchy Vuelta offers him the opportunity to make the most of his 55 kilos and 1.72 meters. In the first week, he finished ahead of the other GC contenders in almost all the uphill finishes, and he repeated this feat in stage 10 on Tuesday. “It was an incredibly fast day, actually, the whole stage. It took forever for the leading group to break away, which is not nice for the guys who are sitting on the wheel and don't want to go with them. Such a tough day also made the final climb more selective.”

The young American, whose contract with the much-discussed Israel-Premier Tech expires at the end of this season, is thus showing himself to the world. But where will this end? “All I could do today was follow. I'm glad Vingegaard and the others didn't drop me, given how the race has gone so far. I'm really taking it day by day, there are still so many tough stages to come,” he said cautiously to Eurosport.

However, the fact that he was able to keep up with the enormous pace set by UAE Emirates-XRG, as one of the few among the GC contenders, was a good sign. "Ayuso set a very high pace from the start, for about 1 or 2 kilometers. João (Almeida, ed.) tried to break away, leaving a small group behind. Jorgenson set the pace from there, partly because it levelled out towards the top and the riders stopped trying."