SerpApi.Org
Jonas Vingegaard’s crash has transformed Matteo Jorgenson and Visma-Lease a Bike’s goals for the third week of the Tour de France.
Now their plan is simple: attack.
“Breakaways, try to win a stage,” Jorgenson told media including Velo after the stage 16 time-trial Wednesday. “I think today [stage 17] will be one for the bigger rouleurs maybe, I’d love to try to be there to be there and help one of my teammates, just be there in general.
“I’d love to race every day from now to Paris and then the day after [stage 18] is a really good day for me. So I think we have some big opportunities coming up.”
Near misses for Matteo
Jorgenson has come close to a Tour de France stage win on a couple of occasions. He was caught by Tadej Pogačar on the climb to Isola 2000 in the 2024 edition in the closing kilometers. Michael Woods passed him even nearer to the finish the previous year on the Puy de Dôme.
Vingegaard’s broken collarbone and departure has required a U-turn, tactically and mentally, after the full-squad commitment to his bid for a third triumph.
“It’s not easy, it takes a bit of changing mindset,” Jorgenson said. “It’s also good, if you look at it positively, there’s always a glass half-full side … all seven of us now have a chance to win a stage at the Tour de France, the biggest bike race in the world. So I think we have got to take it with both hands, and I think we will.”
It has been two and a half weeks since Visma-Lease a Bike opened the race with TTT victory in Barcelona.
With Sepp Kuss freed from super domestique duties, we could may see the Colorado man up the road and #StageKuss trending if the “Eagle of Durango” takes flight on the tough final days in the Alps.
A McDonald’s before Vingegaard says goodbye
Jorgenson was pleased that Vingegaard was already at the team’s hotel when he returned after the tumultuous events of stage 15.
Teammate Victor Campenaerts revealed to Sporza that the Dane even turned up with a McDonald’s burger and chips for dinner, briefly freed from the calorific restrictions of the race.
“We had dinner and breakfast together the next day, we chatted about everything, the crash, how his collarbone was broken, if he was going to get surgery, how he was feeling,” Jorgenson said.
“It was good to have some last meals together and really discuss these things because we put in a lot of work together.
“Also just for him, it’s good to have some closure and be able to say thank you to everybody, he was really gracious, he’s a really respectful leader.”
Jorgenson’s difficult mid-race spell
Jorgenson will certainly hope for a better third week of the race than the middle one he endured. Falling sick on stage 10, he was subsequently kept away from his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates for several days.
“I got a cold the same day that I crashed. I woke up already that day feeling crap.
“And then I was swinging on the stage, got dropped and crashed probably because I wasn’t mentally super clear,” he says.
“I was trying to fight back to the group and that again put my body a step back so I was just sleeping badly, was injured and sick and isolated from the team. So it was a difficult few days but thankfully I think I recovered.
“Now we’re in the third week of a grand tour, the body is how it is. We just have to try with the legs we have.”
Jorgenson gave his best in Tuesday’s stage 16 time-trial, finishing 14th, 2:17 behind winner Remco Evenepoel.
“It was definitely a course for people with really good legs and I didn’t have super ones, so I was paying from the first few pedal strokes.
“I did my best, but didn’t feel very good from the start.”
