Could Matteo Jorgenson co-lead with Jonas VIngegaard at Tour de France? "I won't say anything about that. Because that would be stupid" Visma DS says
Cycling
Team Visma | Lease a Bike were strongly defeated at the Tour de France last year by a Tadej Pogacar that had no weak spots or bad days. Certainly, it will be very hard for anyone to even match him in the high mountains, but the Dutch team could have in Matteo Jorgenson a special weapon.
The American has shown great results last year, further complemented by his versatility (winning not only in the stage-races, but also in cobbled classics such as Dwars door Vlaanderen) and sheer consistency. This year he entered in the perfect position, winning Paris-Nice confidently, whilst Vingegaard crashed out of the race with a concussion.
The gap between the two seems smaller than ever, and both will race the Tour de France. Most likely, Jorgenson will have a luxury domestique role, whilst he himself can still contest for a Top10 as was the case last year - or more, if possible.
But could Visma go as far as starting the Grand Boucle with two leaders? "I won't say anything about that. Because that would be stupid, especially in Denmark. There is only one Jonas Vingegaard, and he is an exceptionally good rider. Matteo can help him in a way. Maybe as co-captain," DS Frans Maassen said in conversation to Feltet.
UAE will have a tremendously strong squad at the start, but Visma won't be too bad either with the likes of Simon Yates and Sepp Kuss as domestiques for the mountains, and an experienced all-round team including Wout van Aert filling in all the gaps.
"It is to Jonas' advantage that Matteo is also at his very best level. It may help him put pressure on. But it is too early to say anything about that yet," Maassen makes it clear. "Jonas and Pogacar are the primary candidates for the Tour. There are two favorites, and then there are a lot of other good riders".
This will likely apply regardless of Jorgenson's results over the upcoming months, as last year he already did prove his quality. "That is true, and he is taking steps, but I can't say anything about it yet. What Jonas did last year was incredible. Second place felt like a victory, and I hope that with the ideal preparation he can get closer to Pogacar".
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I think Jorgenson has the ability to win the Tour de France and has strength to battle with Remco, Roglic, Ayuso and Almeida. But when it comes to these aliens (Pogi and Vingo), they are just in another planet. Another alien named MvdP in the classics.
I disagree. Jorgensen has a worst TT than Remco or Roglic, on any terrain, and is worse in the mountains
True but things also change, Primoz will get older, Remco crashes, MJ isn’t peaking yet and people can improve their weaknesses faster than others improve their strengths, cf MVDP climbing, JV TTing.
Powless just got “better” at 28, Rog hasn’t gotten worse at 35, GT only really started getting going in GT late twenties. Give the guy a chance, he’s not even been let off the leash yet, remember what Jonas achieved GT wise since being given leader status.
I said much better, not better. He probably will improve but right now he needs about 20 minutes of free time to win the Tour against Pogacar. And the was offered leadership in Giro and other races but turned it down
Yes but 20 minutes as a domestique isn’t 20 minutes as a leader, and you know as well as anybody that Pog winning is in no way a guarantee. Granted, neither Pog nor Remco nor Jinas nor Primoz or some more winning starts to seem far-fetched but a podium would certainly be targetable if he doesn’t have to worry about Jonas.
I don't think so, maybe in a different GT, not in the Tour. Last year, to be 3rd, he would have to be better than Remco. And he wasn't, on any terrain
Yeah not this year anyway but worth keeping an eye on him (and some others) in future.
If he's very lucky maybe he can podium a Tour one season, I certainly don't believe he can win it, ever
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- Yawn! There were no ther top class sprinters there so he better have won! Let me know when he beats Jasper or Merlier or Milan!frieders309-04-2025
- Yes, I get that but it wasn’t exactly a good comparison if you ask me, circumstances and competition were very different. Also crashing whilst staying up front is pretty different from crashing and being left behind.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Pidcock was riding at a hard enough pace until the sector where Pogacar made up something like 20 seconds in something like... 20 seconds. Pidcock was quite a bit ahead, and suddenly he wasn't. At that point, clearly he would get caught, so might as well get caught sooner and work together. That's just good cycling. (I think the point is, plenty of people win even after they've come down in a crash - Van der Poel crashed at the worlds and won, anyway, for example).RidesHills08-04-2025
- Great sprint, Ineos set him up at exactly the right time, they protected the corners through the turns, and he did the job he was supposed to do. Nice to see him win again.RidesHills08-04-2025
- When Vingo, Rogla, and Wout were all at the height of their powers, a sight to behold.mobk08-04-2025
- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025