After winning Paris-Nice and Dwars door Vlaanderen earlier this spring, Matteo Jorgenson continues to push his limits and exceed his own expectations in 2024. This time, it was being able to stay with Primož Roglič’s attack from a reduced peloton to finish second on the Queen Stage at the Critérium du Dauphiné atop Samoëns 1600.
The American rider, who switched to Visma-Lease A Bike this year, moved up one spot to second overall, 1:02 behind Roglič with one stage to go. The 24-year-old also takes over the best young rider classification with a 56-second lead on his closest rival Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers).
As Roglič’s Bora-Hansgrohe team shredded the bunch on the slopes of the final Hors Categorie ascent of Samoëns 1600, a 10km climb with an average gradient of 9.3%, Jorgenson stayed stubbornly in the wheels. By the time the last remaining breakaway rider was caught inside of two kilometres to go, Jorgenson was still in the elite lead group, down to a dozen riders.
With the finish line in sight, Roglič jumped and an alert Jorgenson stayed on his wheel. The duo crossed the line three seconds ahead a three-rider group fighting for third place.
“I can't deny that I surprised myself a bit. I expected this weekend to be very tough for me” Jorgenson said afterwards.
“I have no experience with these big mountain rides, day after day. It's all new to me. I am testing my limits and hopefully, I will continue to do so.”
“I still had quite a lot left for the last piece, which surprised me. I didn't think about the stage win until a kilometre before the finish. However, from that point on I thought: it is still possible.”
On paper, the mountainous Dauphiné course did not seem suited for Jorgenson. But he has claimed three top 5 finishes so far, including a fourth-place time trial result on stage 3 which propelled him to third overall prior to Saturday's stage.
Stage 7, the second of three mountain trilogy at the Dauphiné, packed a big punch with an altitude gain of 4,268m over a distance of 145.5 kilometres. It included the climbs of Col des Saisies, Col des Aravis (6.9 km at 6.9%) and Col de la Colombière, d’Arâches before the daunting finale, the premiere of the ascent of Samoëns 1600.
“On such tough rides, I'm always concerned with wasting as little energy as possible,” he explained. “I rode very conservatively all day, because I don't have much experience with such rides of more than 4000 meters in altitude. But it went well. I think I passed the test, at least for now.”
As a slightly heavier rider, Jorgenson focused on the basics to tackle the final climb.
“It's just about keeping cadence, making sure biomechanics are good and then I'm staying calm on the bike and eating enough and just focusing on all the simple stuff, but it all adds up. If you forget one thing, then you can pay for it on the last climb,” Jorgenson explained to reporters including CyclingProNet after the line.
In a few weeks, we will know if Jorgenson will be co-leader for the Visma team for Tour de France. The team is still hopeful that Jonas Vingegaard will start and battle for the win after his horrific crash at Itzulia Basque Country. In the meantime, Jorgenson is focusing on the final stage at the Dauphiné, for a third day of back-to-back mountain stages with 3,640 metres of climbing over 152.5 kilometres.
“I'm just taking a day by day for now, I think from what I hear Jonas is doing well and I'm still very confident that he's going to arrive ready and I really hope that he does. I would really love to ride for him and, and not have any pressure on myself.”
"But I'll just take it day by day and for now, I need to focus on one more day here at the Dauphiné and get through it and then we can think about the Tour after that.”
