"I found a moment of hesitation between Remco and Primoz" - Matteo Jorgenson reflects on his Paris-Nice triumph

Taking the first win of his Team Visma | Lease a Bike career, Matteo Jorgenson shone brightly at Paris-Nice 2024. Now, a couple of days later the American has reflected on his triumph.

“Winning is huge, it can’t really be understated how big this race is,” the 24-year-old says delightedly in conversation with Velo. “For me, it’s also the one race other than the Tour de France that I remember watching as a kid. It’s a cool race, the one WorldTour stage race I always believed really suited me.”

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Battling against some of the biggest names in the peloton such as Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic and Egan Bernal, Jorgenson looked every bit as good. “When you have Primož, Remco, Bernal: all these guys have won a grand tour or multiple world championships,” Jorgenson reflects. “I just didn’t expect to be on that level and I never have been before. So I think it was a normal thing to not believe I could win it. But I found out I had the legs towards the middle of the week so I started to believe as we got closer to the finish.”

“Essentially, I found a moment of hesitation between Remco and Primoz. It was just good timing," he adds modestly. “I won the race on La Colle-sur-Loup. It was getting to be clear that Remco was my strongest competitor in the race and I had to make up the time that we lost on them in the TTT. And also, it was very helpful to put time into him.”

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With Jorgenson joined on the final podium by compatriot Brandon McNulty, the duo continued the boom in American cycling over the past couple of seasons. “For U.S. cycling, it’s big. I think it’s a big sign this generation we have right now is really coming onto the scene,” Jorgenson says. “We have this group of us that are all fueled by each other. Most of us know each other really well, and the guys here in Nice ride together often and hang out a lot … it’s not something to take too much for granted because it’s not that often it comes along.”

In the coming weeks, Jorgenson returns his focus to the Classics with the E3 Saxo Classic, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Understandably, confidence is flowing withing Jorgenson after his recent performances. “Hopefully I can win one of these classics. That’d be a pretty cool milestone,” he concludes.

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