'Mark Cavendish stopped answering his phone' – Max Richeze retires in San Juan as 2023 plans fall through

Max Richeze hadn't planned for it to end like this, but he's made his peace with the idea that maybe it's a fitting way to say goodbye all the same.

The Argentinian takes his final bow as a professional rider this week as the leader of his national team at the Vuelta a San Juan, calling time on a career that saw him earn a reputation as one of the finest lead-out men in the peloton.

Twelve months ago, Richeze had already brushed with the end only for UAE Team Emirates to offer him a late extension to keep guiding Fernando Gaviria through bunch sprints.

The ability to read the shifting topography of the finishing straight is a rare gift, and Richeze showed in 2022 that he could still provide that service even as he approached his 40th birthday.

Mark Cavendish certainly seemed convinced, and when he looked set to move to B&B Hotels last Autumn with designs on that record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win, he asked Richeze to come along as part of his lead-out train, together with Cees Bol.

Richeze even attended B&B Hotels' pre-season planning meeting in October, only for Jérôme Pineau team to collapse due to a lack of funding in early December.

"We were in the loop a little bit, but we didn't know everything," Richeze told Cyclingnews in San Juan. "I'm sorry about it, because, in the end, a lot of families were left in the lurch, a lot of people were left without a job – not just the riders, but the staff too. I'm sorry for them."

Even at that short notice, Cavendish was always likely to find a landing site, and Richeze's understanding was that he remained part of his plans for 2023. That was still his impression as December ticked by, but when Richeze read reports of Cavendish and Bol's imminent move to Astana Qazaqstan, the trail suddenly went cold.

His attempts to contact both Cavendish and the Manxman's agent Martijn Berkhout proved fruitless. Richeze has been long enough in this gig to understand exactly what the silence meant, but it still rankled.

"I was going to be part of his package, along with Cees Bol. There were going to be three of us. But then, from one day to the next, Mark disappeared, and so did his agent, so I only found out in the press that they had signed for Astana," Richeze said. "In December, he stopped answering his phone, and it was the same with his agent.

"Normally, I was part of his project, he had called me to be a part of it. If he had said to me at the last minute, 'I'm sorry but there are only two places and I can't take you with me, I wouldn't have been angry at all.' He just needed to be upfront and tell me how things were playing out. I would have understood that.

"I just didn't like this attitude where one day, everything was in place and then two days later, I see in the press that he's signed, and he doesn't respond to me on the phone anymore. That's the only thing, it was a question of respect. I would have understood if I was left without a team, and I would have thanked him all the same for trying to bring me with him. But I didn't like the lack of communication."

A farewell at home

Richeze's 16-year career started as a sprinter at Panaria before his positive test for stanozolol on the 2008 Giro d'Italia. He returned and raced for Lampre, QuickStep and UAE, adapting smoothly to the role of lead-out man on behalf of men like Sacha Modolo, Marcel Kittel and Gaviria.

Although his time at QuickStep did not overlap with Cavendish's, they admired one another's work.

"We weren't friends, but we were colleagues who respected each other and who spoke in the bunch," said Richeze, who evinced disappointment rather than anger at the way things had played out with Cavendish.

In retirement, Richeze is likely to be involved with a number of projects in Argentinian cycling and his desire is to help more of his compatriots make it to the WorldTour.

The long-term resident of Bassano del Grappa has yet to decide whether his post-cycling life will be rooted in Italy or Argentina, and for the time being, he seems likely to toggle between the two countries.

The finale to his career, meanwhile, showcased the double-edged nature of his life's work. The warmth afforded to Richeze by his home crowds at the pre-race presentation in San Juan on Saturday evening contrasted jarringly with the harsh realities of the business of cycling that he experienced these past weeks.

Professional cycling is too often a callous enterprise, but Richeze at least has the consolation of a warm farewell before his own people. There are worse ways to exit the stage.

"It doesn't leave me bitter, because, over the course of my career, I realised a lot of childhood dreams," Richeze said. "Now I'm 39, almost 40 years old, so I couldn't really ask for much more than ending like this.

"In my head, I was ready to do the whole year, but destiny wanted it this way, with the two things that happened, first with B&B and then with Mark. I chose not to force destiny and to finish in my country."