Matteo Jorgenson was one of the strongest riders for Visma-Lease a Bike in the 2025 Opening Weekend, but he recognised after finishing Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne that strategically the weekend showed that the squad collectively needed to up their games in the Classics.
Visma had a lot to defend in the 2025 edition of Opening Weekend, after winning the men's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for a third time in a row from 2022-2024, taking the women's Omloop last year thanks to Marianne Vos and with Wout van Aert following up third on Saturday last February with a victory at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne as well.
However, come Opening Weekend 2025, Omloop proved to be singularly lacklustre for the squad, where Van Aert was their best racer in eleventh but never really in it for the win, as he told reporters afterwards.
Visma then salvaged at least part of their weekend at Kuurne with a gutsy breakaway by Van Aert late on and a notable second place for Olav Kooij behind winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). But even so, as Jorgenson said, it was clear the team was not operating at its one-day best, partly through reasons - like injury and illness - that were beyond their control. The American pointed out that in terms of the team's overall progression, this could mean that rather than starting from a high point and going downhill as happened in 2024, this year things might well work out in the opposite direction.
"I don't think I need to say it publicly, but we have some clear things we've already discussed in the debrief and I'm sure we'll discuss it in the debrief again," he said on Sunday evening, when asked by reporters what the squad needed to improve.
"We just haven't clicked yet, so it's also difficult. We have a lot of new riders for the Classics in the team because of more bad luck, losing Christophe [Laporte] to really big sickness and then Dylan [van Baarle] still hasn't entered [returned to racing] after his collarbone fracture in Down Under."
"So we're still missing our core team, but I think actually this year is going to be good. We didn't win both Opening Weekend races, but we can build into the cobbled Classics a little bit instead starting at the top and kind of petering out.”
On a personal note Jorgenson always came into the Opening Weekend with a series of doubts as to his condition given it was his first event of the season. But he was arguably the strongest rider for Visma-Lease a Bike in the Omloop and then in Kuurne he operated as 'leadout man' for Van Aert when the Belgian went on the attack in the hilly segment of the race.
"My own performance, personally, was really good," Jorgenson said about Omloop prior to starting Kuurne.
"I've just come back from altitude and I have a good feeling straightaway like I normally do. But always in the first race it's good to put the doubts away and know that you're one of the strongest in the race. So that was good on a personal note.”
Jorgenson will now head towards Paris-Nice, and after using the opening Classics in part as training for the first part of the Course Au Soleil through northern France - 'they have their similarities', he pointed out - he is keenly anticipating a race where he'll be both defending Champion and working alongside team leader Jonas Vingegaard.
"I'm glad that like every year to make it through Opening Weekend with all my skin on my body, that's also a good feeling," he said after Kuurne.
"I was really strong both days, I think as a team we have some things to improve on for the coming Classics, but I think from a personal standpoint, I'm looking forward to Paris-Nice. I feel very confident.”
Jorgenson says he will have an almost identical program to 2025, with the only difference that Amstel Gold will most likely be scratched from the program for his first half of the season, with Flanders his last race of the Classics season. First, though, the American will head to Paris-Nice.
"I'm really looking forward to that. It'll be really nice, it's nice to go with a really strong team like that and I love racing with Jonas, for it'll be a highlight of the year like it always is," he said. "I think my form is building towards that and I hope to make it the highlight of my spring."
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