"I got tactically outplayed" - Matteo Jorgenson misses out on the medals in Paris Olympic road race

The medal winning hope for the United States of America in the road race at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, things looked good for Matteo Jorgenson for a long while on Saturday afternoon. In the end though, the 25-year-old had to be content with a 9th placed finish as Remco Evenepoel secured the gold medal.

“I tried my best to medal and it just didn't happen. I had a really good fight. I put myself into position to win the race, but in the end, I got tactically outplayed," Jorgenson said in a USA Cycling statement afterwards. "There were teams like France, Belgium, and the Netherlands with more numbers and I was in the right moves, but I think none of us worked well together. In the end, I used up a lot of energy in places where it was not necessary then I got attacked at the top."

“Wout van Aert was in a group with Mathieu Van der Poel and I, and then Remco Evenepoel attacked over the top of us. So in the end this is what they should do. They had more numbers in the final and they played it perfectly,” the Team Visma | Lease a Bike star's reflection continues. “We had Christophe Laporte sitting on, basically not working with us because he had a teammate up the road with Valentin Madouas, so this kind of destroyed, ruined our group dynamic. And guys didn't want to work as hard because they knew they were going to keep Christophe in the sprint. It all makes sense but was yeah, just tactically difficult there and there's nothing more I can do."

As mentioned, in the end Jorgenson missed out on the medals, finishing 9th. “At a certain point, I was just trying to keep myself in contention for a medal and was trying to keep the groups behind from coming back,” he recalls. Nevertheless however, it remains an achievement unlocked for Jorgenson, who seemingly thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

“The whole country of Belgium, the whole country of France - it felt like was out there. It was a wall, a tunnel of noise for six-and-a-half hours. I couldn't hear much else. All I heard was spectators,” Jorgenson concludes with a short laugh. “I think they did a good job with the route, they found every little climb around Paris and the final circuit was also beautiful. When the Tour de France finishes on the Champs Elysées in Paris we do circuits in the city centre just like this. That's pretty comparable. I would say the Tour of Flanders is pretty similar with so many people out on the road. Those climbs were really cool and there were lots of people, so I really enjoyed the day.”