{"id":790168,"date":"2026-07-09T08:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T08:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790168\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T08:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T08:59:12","slug":"seixas-and-american-lead-out-riccitello-are-tourmalet-bound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790168\/","title":{"rendered":"Seixas and American lead-out Riccitello are Tourmalet bound"},"content":{"rendered":"

Decathlon CMA CGM<\/a> could very well make a huge impact in the Tour de France over the next two days. The French team won the race\u2019s first sprint opportunity in Stage 5<\/a> with Olav Kooij, and a day later, the peloton will be riding through the Pyrenees<\/a>. Will Paul Seixas<\/a> strike? We asked his lead-out man, American Matthew Riccitello<\/a>.Riccitello, 24, joined Decathlon last winter after making his big breakthrough in the cycling peloton in 2025. The diminutive climber had been holding his own for several years, but his best performances came last season. He won a stage and the overall title at the Sibiu Cycling Tour and finished fifth in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>.That last achievement, in particular, made Riccitello a sought-after rider on the transfer market, as his contract with Israel-Premier Tech was about to expire. That team fell apart due to various problems and was relaunched as NSN. Riccitello, however, signed a three-year contract with Decathlon CMA CGM<\/a>, where he was presented as a general classification rider.He immediately proved himself in his first few months with the team. Riccitello won a stage and the overall classification in the Tour de la Provence<\/a>, finished sixth in the Algarve, and ninth in Catalonia. After doing a solid job as a domestique for a dominant Seixas in the Basque Country, Riccitello returned to winning ways at the Tour du Jura. Just before the Tour, he finished seventh in the Tour de Suisse.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"matthew-riccitello\"\/Riccitello believes he can be an asset to Seixas at the Tour de France<\/p>\n

Riccitello stood opposite IDL Pro Cycling at the start of Stage 5, with his left elbow still bandaged. That turned out to be the result of a crash on Day 3. \u201cBut I\u2019m okay. It\u2019s never fun to crash, especially when there\u2019s not much you can do about it. But so far, so good.\u201d He\u2019s also handling the heat well. \u201cMaybe I\u2019m just the kind of rider who can handle it, though it\u2019s never pleasant in this kind of heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, these are positive signs for Riccitello, who will have to step up in Stage 6. Riccitello knows that the general classification contenders will be put to the test on the Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet. \u201cI definitely expect a fierce battle between UAE Emirates-XRG and Visma | Lease a Bike. We need to come up with a plan for that. It\u2019s going to be a decisive day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decathlon CMA CGM hopes that Seixas can compete with Tadej Poga\u010dar and Jonas Vingegaard. \u201cPaul is a favorite for the Tour, so that\u2019s how we need to race. We\u2019ll see what happens on the Tourmalet\u2014I\u2019m looking forward to it,\u201d said Riccitello, who is enjoying riding alongside Seixas in what is the first Tour de France for both climbers.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"paul-seixas\"\/<\/p>\n

Paul Seixas<\/p>\n

Riccitello is fully focused on helping Seixas and not on his own standings<\/p>\n

When Decathlon CMA CGM was on the starting podium for Stage 5 and Seixas was announced, the French crowd went wild. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to be riding with such a strong team right from the start of my first Tour de France. There\u2019s so much potential\u2014that\u2019s special. I\u2019m trying to enjoy it, even though there\u2019s a bit more pressure and stress in the Tour. But that\u2019s cool too,\u201d said Riccitello, beaming.<\/p>\n

The American emphasized that he is fully dedicated to supporting Seixas, even though he seemed to hang on for a long time during the team time trial on Day 1. Was that for his own general classification? \u201cI mainly stayed with Paul as long as possible to create a draft from behind. Experts have calculated exactly how much that helps. So I certainly wasn\u2019t staying with him with my own general classification in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

So no role as a shadow leader, which means Riccitello can give it his all in the mountains. Where does he hope to find himself among the big names? \u201cIt\u2019s the first time I\u2019ll be tackling the Col d\u2019Aspin and the Tourmalet, but of course I\u2019m familiar with both climbs. I\u2019m curious to see what I\u2019m capable of, and I\u2019m confident in my form and my ability to help Paul effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Decathlon CMA CGM could very well make a huge impact in the Tour de France over the next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,175351,76092,141519,82,262636],"class_list":["post-790168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-decathlon-cma-cgm","tag-matthew-riccitello","tag-paul-seixas","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}