{"id":416620,"date":"2026-02-09T18:59:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/416620\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T18:59:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:59:47","slug":"i-dont-use-a-power-meter-or-heart-rate-monitor-at-all-why-23-year-old-matthew-riccitello-is-racing-like-its-pre-team-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/416620\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI don\u2019t use a power meter or heart rate monitor at all\u201d \u2013 Why 23-year-old Matthew Riccitello is racing like it\u2019s pre-Team Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nSpeaking on Matt Stephens\u2019 podcast<\/a>, Riccitello was blunt about how he races. \u201cDuring races, I basically do not use a power meter or heart rate monitor at all,\u201d he explained. \u201cI do not look at them to make decisions. After the race, I do check it. In training, I do look at the numbers again, but not during races themselves.\u201dRacing by feel in a numbers era<\/p>\n

That distinction matters. Riccitello is not rejecting data outright. He trains with it, analyses it afterwards and understands its value. What he resists is allowing numbers to dictate decisions in the heat of competition.<\/p>\n

That philosophy runs counter to the system that has defined elite stage racing for more than a decade. The rise of Team Sky and later INEOS reshaped the peloton. Power meters moved from optional tools to essential equipment. Mountain pacing became pre-planned. Effort was managed, capped and controlled. Riding without numbers in a Grand Tour GC role became almost unthinkable.<\/p>\n

Riccitello\u2019s Vuelta was a reminder that another path still exists. On the penultimate day, he finished sixth on the Bola del Mundo, one of the race\u2019s most unforgiving climbs. He did so without a power meter on the bike. \u201cThere were quite a few days at the Vuelta where I did not even have a power meter on my bike. Purely to make the bike a bit lighter,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the Bola del Mundo, someone asked me how much power I had pushed on that climb. I was like, no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not bravado. It is intent. \u201cI am interested in data, and I do use it in training,\u201d Riccitello added. \u201cBut in races, I do not think it is very crucial to have those numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A young rider with an old school edge<\/p>\n

That mindset places Riccitello in a small modern minority. Pre-Sky era racing was not anti-science, but it allowed instinct to guide in race decisions. Riders learned limits in real time rather than calculating them in advance. Feel, not wattage ceilings judged attacks.<\/p>\n

Riccitello\u2019s strength aligns neatly with that approach. He has described his ability to absorb repeated efforts as a core asset, and it is why Grand Tours appeal most. The longer a race lasts, the more it suits him. Fifth overall in Madrid was not framed as an endpoint, but as a starting marker.<\/p>\n

For Decathlon CMA CGM, the appeal is obvious. A climber capable of surviving and thriving deep into a three-week race, yet unshackled enough to respond when the road rather than the screen demands it.<\/p>\n

Cycling has not abandoned data, and it never will. But Riccitello\u2019s success suggests the sport has not eliminated space for feel, either. In a peloton still living in the shadow of Team Sky\u2019s legacy, that balance might be his quiet edge.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Speaking on Matt Stephens\u2019 podcast, Riccitello was blunt about how he races. \u201cDuring races, I basically do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,117520,64620,101,56,54,55,20998],"class_list":{"0":"post-416620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-decathlon-cma-cgm-team","10":"tag-matthew-riccitello","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom","15":"tag-vuelta-a-espana"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}