Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) was one day removed from the “painful” memory of falling short of his first Grand Tour victory on the climb to Isola 2000, but he pushed that fresh wound aside on stage 20 of the Tour de France to focus on helping his team leader Jonas Vingegaard on the slopes of Col de la Couillole.
Vingegaard would finish second to race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) on Saturday, and put some extra time between himself and nearest overall rival Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), who could not match the accelerations in the final 3km. Pogačar added 11 more seconds to his 5-plus minute GC margin but Vingegaard strengthened his hold on second overall, adding an extra 52 seconds to take his buffer to third-placed Evenepoel to 2:50, with just the stage 21 time trial remaining.
“I have a lot to learn from Jonas – his mental strength, his work ethic, it’s impressive,” the 2024 Paris-Nice winner told reporters. “He’s one of the best in the world for a reason. He works super hard and he is a very humble guy.
“I am proud of Jonas. To be second in the Tour de France after what he’s been through this year, it’s epic.”
It's a result Jorgenson has played a part in. On the final ascent he was the final Visma-Lease a Bike teammate helping Vingegaard save energy on the massive climb, and Jorgenson then followed the wake of the attacks to take a seventh place finish, a result that moved the American from ninth to eighth on the GC.
“It’s great. It is amazing,” he said to cameras for the Peacock network about a top 10 finish. “I'm really proud of this [team]. Literally, every single day, we fought. We did it tactically perfect. I can't think of one mistake we made, really.”
Just one day before Jorgenson was out front and within sight of the finish line in the Tour’s queen stage when he was overhauled by race leader and stage winner Pogačar.
He was asked if his top 10 ride on Saturday, and a spot in the top 10 overall, was any consolation for missing the win on Friday, but he quickly responded, “No”.
“Yesterday was painful,” he recalled. “In the end, it was legs that spoke, and that's how the Tour de France should be, I think. It's the biggest test in the world, an endurance test, and, yeah, this year, Tadej was on another level.”
Jorgenson has come close to stage wins several times before in the Tour de France. He finished third and fourth on stages in the 2023 Tour and had three top fives in 2022.
The rider who turned 25 years old earlier in the race now has just one more stage of his third Tour de France left, and given it is an individual time trial has now done all he can for his team leader.
There is, however, the task of protecting his own overall position on Sunday, with Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) just 24 seconds back in ninth. Jorgenson was seventh on the stage 7 time trial, the only other time trial in this year’s race, while Gee was 14th, 23 seconds back from Jorgenson in the 25.3km race against the clock. Jorgenson may be walking into the final 33.7km stage with the stronger hand but he'll still need to play his cards carefully in Nice.
