“Hopefully we can... try to win the TTT in the Tour” - Matteo Jorgenson sends Barcelona warning after Visma’s chaotic Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes victory

Team Visma | Lease a Bike turned a chaotic Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes team time trial into a Tour de France warning shot.

Matteo Jorgenson led the Dutch squad home to victory on stage 3 around Perreux, where Visma stopped the clock in 32:52.17 despite losing Wout van Aert early and seeing Ben Tulett suffer a puncture and near crash. The result moved Jorgenson to fourth overall, 15 seconds behind Alex Baudin, but the bigger message pointed towards July.

The Tour de France will open with a team time trial in Barcelona, and Jorgenson made clear that Visma already have that target in mind.

“Exactly. We put a lot of work into this in Sierra together, Edo and Bruno and I,” Jorgenson said in conversation with Cycling Pro Net. “Then we had to watch on TV Jonas win the Giro, and hopefully we can come together now before Barcelona and get some training in as a team, to try to win the TTT in the Tour.”

The strength of Visma’s ride came from how quickly they adapted. Van Aert had been expected to play a longer role, but he was unable to stay with the team as the test unfolded.

“It didn’t really go as planned,” Jorgenson admitted. “We expected to have Wout getting over the second climb, but he didn’t have the best day, so we lost him and already had to adapt.”

The problems did not end there. Tulett’s puncture created another complication, with the British rider also close to crashing as Visma were forced to reorganise on the road. “Then quickly after that, we lost Ben to a puncture and he also almost crashed, so we had some splits in our team on the downhill,” Jorgenson said.

That could have wrecked the ride. Instead, Visma recalculated, with Jorgenson crediting the direction from the team car and the remaining riders’ ability to reset the effort. “We were able to adapt quite well, and that was thanks a lot to Mathieu in the car, who was managing the situation, making new calculations and redirecting us,” he said.

Jorgenson also highlighted Nordhagen’s climbing strength and the work of Per Strand Hagenes, Bruno Armirail and Edoardo Affini in the final part of the course. “Jorgen was already really strong on the climbs, and then the three big engines we had, Per, Bruno and Edo, were flying on the last descent and the last couple of kilometres,” he said. “I was able to take an armchair ride to the bottom of the last climb, and I had good legs, so I was able to finish it off.”

Jorgenson said there was no panic inside his own head once the problems began, partly because the effort left little room for anything else. “For me, no. I didn’t really have time to panic,” he said. “It was stressful and painful enough already.”

The victory carried personal weight too. Jorgenson had wanted success in the Ardennes earlier this year, only for that campaign to end in disappointment before he could properly contest the races he had targeted.

“It means a lot,” he said. “I really wanted to win in the Ardennes this year, and it didn’t happen in a really disappointing way. I lost the chance to even compete in all three of them, so to come here and already have a victory feels really good.”

The team element made the result more significant. Team time trials are not only about the riders on the road, and Jorgenson linked the win to Visma’s wider preparation. “It makes me proud to be part of this team because today’s ride is thanks to a lot of collective work from the management, the riders and the nutritionists,” he said. “There is a lot that goes into these TTTs, so it feels really nice to reward everyone with a win.”

The immediate GC picture remains open, with Baudin still in yellow, Kevin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley at 12 seconds, and Jorgenson at 15 seconds. Jorgenson was not ready to make bold claims about the week ahead before studying the standings.

“I haven’t actually looked at the results, but I’m just really happy to win this stage,” he said. “It was a goal in and of itself for this race. The GC again is something I’ll have to look at the results for, and then go one day at a time.”

Visma’s bigger message was already clear. Their stage win came with Van Aert missing early, Tulett puncturing, and the team still beating every rival on a technical, rolling course. Barcelona will bring another race, another pressure and another line-up, but this was a serious first warning.