Matteo Jorgenson might have put the shift of his life in the service of his team leader on stage 19 of the Tour de France, and then come so close to winning, but the American was bitterly disappointed on Friday evening.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was sent up the road as a satellite rider to give assistance to Jonas Vingegaard on the road to Isola 2000, but after the Dane conceded he was not up to it, was given the chance to attack himself. He was at the head of the race on the final climb, had a three minute advantage with 10km to go, but was caught and passed by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). It happens to the best riders in the world.
"Of course I'm disappointed," he explained outside his bus. "At this level, the win is what matters, and I feel like... I don't know. I put a lot into this sport and I'm really close in the Tour many times now. Today it felt like I had it within my grasp. It just slipped away. I heard Pogačar was coming, and I really thought that it was possible. I felt super good. Anything but the win is pretty disappointing."
To add to the disappointment, Vingegaard lost more time to Pogačar on Friday. Then to add to the ignominy, riders had to keep climbing after the finish to get to the bus.
Asked if he could take comfort form the fact he is performing well, and getting better, the 25-year-old said: "You can say that all you want, but you also have to make it happen at some point. I can be happy with the feeling and level I have, especially in the third week of a Grand Tour, that's a new for me. Definitely going in the right direction, but still need the win."
Jorgenson's day out was more impressive because it was a second option on stage 19, he was never supposed to be aiming for the stage win.
"Originally we were in the break to help Jonas, so it was a bit of improvisation," Jorgenson explained. "I felt the strongest in the break, so I wanted to attack before the steep parts at the beginning, so that when I attacked it was harder for people to get on my wheel. Once I was gone, I just did the best effort I had in my legs. I was hoping that Pogačar would go more conservative. I knew with three and a half, four minutes that it was going to be really tight, but I just didn't have enough in the legs."
"We had a few plans, just depending on the race situation, but Jonas felt normal but not like amazing, he said on the radio," he continued. "We decided after the Bonette that we would go for the stage. We were waiting and trying to keep as big a gap as possible because when Tadej launches..."
Jorgenson was not the first, and will not be the last, to experience being overtaken by a flying Pogačar at this year's race, but the disappointment was real.
