“A nutrition problem? No, it's a Monument problem!” – Matteo Jorgenson laughs off late race Tour of Flanders crack
Cycling
Team Visma | Lease a Bike showed real determination and teamwork at Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, putting in a bold performance that silenced some of their critics. Wout van Aert crossed the line in fourth, narrowly missing the podium, while Matteo Jorgenson and Tiesj Benoot played key roles in shaping the race.
After the finish, Jorgenson joked about how he was dropped late on, despite an impressive showing throughout the day.
"They dropped you on the flat, or what?" team manager Grischa Niermann teased in a video posted by the team. The American laughed off the comment: "I had a double flat. Both my legs. You have to check the sealant in the tire, because I had a double puncture."
Speaking to Cyclingnews, Jorgenson opened up about the brutal finale. “I'm very, very empty. I just feel done, I fell apart completely in the last 10 kilometers, there was just nothing left in my legs.” In the end, he slipped behind the peloton, finishing 2:34 behind winner Tadej Pogacar.
Asked if his drop-off was a nutrition issue, he replied: “A nutrition problem? No, it's a Monument problem. I simply had nothing left, I gave too much to follow the big boys. But I am very happy with how we rode as a team, and we put together a beautiful race. We did our best, I rode as hard as I could and tried to follow as best I could.”
Tiesj Benoot, who was one of the early animators of the race, shared his satisfaction with how the team performed.
“For me it was ideal to anticipate and for the team too. We had indicated a few points to do something, but that was not necessary because I was already in the front. With many good riders: Filippo Ganna with a teammate, Matteo Trentin with a teammate, Davide Ballerini with a teammate.”
He added, “In the end, we are with three men among the best eight riders. We can be proud of that. Four and six is good, although it is a pity that Wout just misses out on a podium.”
Benoot concluded on a positive note: “It's a successful day. The course is so difficult. As a team we made it difficult for him, but Pogacar was simply the best rider. That's the honest and beautiful thing about the Tour of Flanders as it is now. This was the highest achievable, certainly today. I think Wout can do even better. He's obviously come a long way from last year, but with the resources we had this was a super good race."
🇧🇪 #RVV
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) April 6, 2025
Matteo had a double flat.. 😅😉 pic.twitter.com/SwMI8uwjwM
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- Impressive and surprising, well done. Go for it more often please.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Good choice of profile picture by the way :-)Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Bolt was an outlier, for some people it can’t exist. Funny thing is 3 generations later, a lot of amateurs reach the level the average pro had. Ok, maybe counting from today it might be 5 or 6 generations because we won’t all have access to the equipment and staff and assistance pros now need to perform.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Actually, I’ve not noticed that fans have even noticed results are provisional so as far as the sport itself goes, I wouldn’t worry too much. Obviously some riders will miss out on celebrating but then these days, they’re all paid so well that it’s quite a small price to pay. Andy Schleck certainly didn’t get to party like he was used to when he received Alberto’s trophy and titles, nevertheless, he’s in the books and I’m sure he feels like and gets treated like a tdf winner. CATCHING dopers is good for the sport, though at the moment I’d have no idea who to go looking for.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Someone like David Walsh, who was the point person in the Sky Team coverup? When there was money and fame in bringing down Armstrong, he went for that. Then he sold that crusader image to Sky. And then renounced them. The guy has made more money from athletes and doping without ever once competing himself, having to take drugs, or even stand for a single principle. He is no different than Novitzsky, who was pivotal in the Armstrong investigations, and helped put Marion Jones in jail. Now he is full-time in the coverup business for the UFC.
Barney10-04-2025 - Do you think that making results provisional for 10 years makes for good sport? Or in any way remotely fairer, or safer?Barney10-04-2025
- Christian Scaroni, Clément Champoussin, Harold Tejada, Simone Velasco ... Peripheral riders who have failed to make much impression so far in their carrier, suddenly starting to win everywhere, climbing with the best in weekly WT races. Aging riders years after their prime, now seen more often than none at the head of the peloton in the classics. Still, no what is talking about the Chinese candies in the roomBM10-04-2025
- It's easy to dismiss doubters. We need someone like David Walsh who dares to ask the hard question. In the mean time, I wouldn't worry too much about Tadej. Whether he dopes or not, at least, he's not a terrible person like LA Doper.
KerisVroom10-04-2025 - Pogi is an outlier. You cannot prove an outlier using the statistical data of average pros. If he releases the data, it will only cause even more suspicion. In 2020 TDF he was dropped by Roglic in the mountains. So how does he do the TT where in the flats he nearly beat Tom Dumoulin and beat everybody else on the climb by a ton. No matter what Pogi is too much of an outlier which can be proven by dataabstractengineer10-04-2025
- Sorry? Have you not noticed how many winners and others have been cancelled post event, not least from the Beijing and London Olympics? If that doesn’t qualify for practice generalisation in sporting procedure, what is, we’ve even gotten to the stage of pre-emptive barring under suspicion of possible doping. If you’re going to look at a problem like this seriously, don’t just look at what makes media headlines in the parts you pay attention to. There is probably a wiki list (very long) of athletes who were disqualified for substance irregularities post event, and each had the opportunity to their long and costly process to defend themselves, it just doesn’t make the news unless you’re already a megastar (in which case you’d be extremely stupid nowadays to risk it, but then again, many people, especially in sport, fall in or close to such a category.Mistermaumau10-04-2025