"I have a much higher chance of winning on the same team as Wout van Aert than I would racing against him" - Matteo Jorgenson sees Visma have multiple Classics options
Cycling
With the Spring of 2025 quickly approaching, like always one of the teams to watch will be Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Although Wout van Aert takes a lot of the headlines, it could actually be Matteo Jorgenson that poses the biggest threat for the Dutch-based outfit.
Despite the immense internal competition the likes of Van Aert, Christophe Laporte, Tiesj Benoot and others pose to Jorgenson, the American is enjoying the challenge of proving himself amongst the very best. “On this team, I feel like I have a much higher chance of winning a one-day classic on the same team as Wout van Aert as I would racing against him on another team,” Jorgenson says in conversation with Velo. “When you’re on this team, you get put into situations and opportunities that you wouldn’t have on other teams.”
Both Van Aert and Jorgenson will be present on Opening Weekend for Team Visma | Lease a Bike and both will be amongst the leading contenders to kick off their Spring Classics campaigns with a win. “We don’t create a hierarchy of Wout first and Christophe Laporte second. We use all the cards,” Jorgenson previews. “One of the nice things about our tactics in the classics is that we have an open playbook. We use every rider as if they can win, we might have one or two riders who are there to help, but for everyone else, it’s open.”
This was proven in 2024 actually, as when Van Aert crashed out at Dwars door Vlaanderen, Jorgenson stepped up to take the victory. The effects of the Van Aert crash weren't fully felt until the races afterwards. “We were on a good track to close that gap, just losing Wout was a nail in the coffin. I feel like we didn’t have the numbers to compete in Flanders once we lost him, and then had bad luck in the race, with Tiesj and Dylan flatting before the key moments," Jorgenson recalls. "It felt like Flanders was cursed last year, but we made a lot of progress closing that gap. And I hope this year we can show what progress we made because we put a lot of work into studying it.”
“A lot of it is tactical, and we looked our opponents and seeing how they race. We studied Mathieu van der Poel a lot, we’re just trying to figure out what ways he was better than us, and what ways he raced better, and what we can learn from it," continues the American. “Some of it is video, we do that a lot. Watching historical versions of the race to see what went wrong, what we did right, and thankfully we have a whole staff doing that and they present their findings to us. Waiting is the name of the game in the classics, but if I were to sit on the wheel of Tadej Pogacar or Van der Poel and wait for the last climb up Kwaremont, I am not going to beat them.”
In terms of races in particular to target victory though, one stands out more than most for Jorgenson. “I like E3. It’s the one that suits me best,” he concludes. “I’ve been 4th and 5th, and I know the order of the climbs, it’s the one I have studied enough to know how it works.”
« When you’re on this team, you get put into situations and opportunities that you wouldn’t have on other teams.” Vuelta 2023 anyone?
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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