It took a while to convince him, but now Matteo Jorgenson fully believes in what his team have been telling him for a while: he can win a Grand Tour.
After a brilliant first season in 2024 with Visma-Lease a Bike, in which the American demonstrated his versatility by winning Dwars door Vlaanderen and then winning Paris-Nice before finishing eighth at the Tour de France, Jorgenson’s stock has risen substantially.
The 25-year-old previously thought his height – 6ft 2in – would count against him if he tried to challenge for GC success in cycling’s three biggest stage races. “I think, for a guy my size, it’s be a pretty big challenge to go for three weeks with so much energy demand,” he told Cycling Weekly last April.
But, buoyed by encouragement from his coaches and teammates, including two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard who recently said “I certainly believe he can win one”, Jorgenson is going into the 2025 season with more belief than ever before.
“It is, 100 percent it is,” Jorgenson, who was born in California but grew up in Idaho, said when asked if winning a Grand Tour is now an aim. “And I’m not afraid to say it. That is a goal I have put on the horizon.
“It feels to me now that it’s unachievable, but people around me say I am capable and I feel like I should believe them more than myself.”
Jorgenson, however, is not rushing to achieve his dream: as he balances further success in the Classics and one-day races, his Grand Tour ambition in 2025 will be once again supporting Vingegaard in the Tour.
“Winning a Grand Tour is one of those perfect carrots to chase, and it will take me a long time to get there. I also asked the team for space,” the American added. “I didn’t want to go for it this year and start this year with the Giro d’Italia and be the leader there. They offered that to me, but I don’t feel ready.
“I need another year of helping Jonas and finding myself in the Tour. Hopefully I can improve there and be more consistent. I felt like I had three bad days [at the 2024 Tour] where I lost a lot of time. If I can limit that and get through a Grand Tour where I don’t have any bad or atrocious days, then I feel like in 2026 I can go for it and lead a team.”
Jorgenson’s biggest victory to date was his triumph at Paris-Nice, where he overturned a four second deficit to compatriot Brandon McNulty on the final day to win by 30 seconds from Remco Evenepoel.
It was that success in the Race to the Sun that prompted Jorgenson to reassess his own capabilities. “In a race like Paris-Nice, I genuinely never believed I could win a race like that,” he said. “I never had that on my radar. I didn’t think I was capable, so that’s why last year was an inner journey for me.
“I achieved things that I never could have imagined achieving, so after that, what’s possible? I had a lot of existential thoughts and figuring out what I could do. The only way I work well is that I set goals that are out of reach for myself – that’s what pushes me through difficult moments.
“It was a process once I won Paris-Nice of reframing my brain and finding new objectives that motivate and inspire me. It took me the entire off-season to wrap my head around it and spend some time searching within myself of what I am doing. That process isn’t done, but I’ve made a lot of progress.”
Jorgenson will begin his 2025 season with the spring Classics in northern Europe, though he will also defend his Paris-Nice title. Convention dictates that few riders can excel in one-day and multi day racing, but Jorgenson dismisses that notion. “I actually reject that thought,” he said.
“I think I’m the type of rider who can do both, and I don’t think there’s any compromise between me doing the Classics in the spring and then racing the GC in a Grand Tour. From a weight, training, and power perspective, there’s really no difference.
“I train the same way – I don’t think it takes anything away, and I think it adds a lot. Any race I do in Belgium I learn so much more than doing a stage of a Grand Tour, because there are so many more things that happen, and the tactics are so much more complex. I feel like it’s worth it to keep doing that and the team agrees with me.”
