Matteo Jorgenson explodes in disaster Tour of Flanders for Visma: "I had to follow Mathieu on the Kwaremont and I did my absolute best but I just ran out of talent"

Team Visma | Lease a Bike endured a disaster before the Tour of Flanders losing three of it's leaders, and during all of it's remaining leaders experienced some sort of mishap as well. Matteo Jorgenson reports on a disappointing day for the Dutch team in Belgium.

“Today he was the best rider. That was clear. We had a plan to use our numbers but it didn’t go to plan," Jorgenson said in an interview with GCN regarding Mathieu van der Poel. "We didn’t make it at the front in the right moment and that’s something to reflect on. In the end, we still had a really good fight and I’m proud of how we fought. We tried to use our team and just chapeau to Alpecin, they also rode a clear and really perfect race. This was impressive to watch."

Jorgenson looked to respond the moves where van der Poel was present earlier in the day, but it was the task of a returning Dylan van Baarle and Tiesj Benoot to try and anticipate moves from the World Champion. They were both in a front group at some point, but were reeled in. Alpecin-Deceuninck controlled the race until the Koppenberg and so it was a head-to-head battle from there on.

Jorgenson was actually the rider who rolled through the Flandrien berg the best aside of van der Poel. “I went all in to win the race. I’m proud of how we rode," he says. He couldn't catch the eventual race winner and was caught by the chasing group, but then 'hit the wall' completely and was dropped group by group. "The race didn’t go according to our plan and we didn’t make it in front we made some mistakes and we didn’t make it in front at the time we wanted to we didn’t split the race. It was a bit chaotic."

At the end of the day Jorgenson crossed the line only in 31st place, right behind teammate Tim van Dijke. Tiesj Benoot was still in the chasing group and fight for the podium after the Paterberg, but was ultimately struck by a late puncture that took him out of contention.

“We weren’t really successful in getting ahead of Mathieu over the second time of the Kwaremont, which was a big goal and basically Alpecin was able to pull Dylan [van Baarle] and Tiesj [Benoot] back, which was unfortunate for us but impressive for them," the American admits. "Then I knew that I had to follow Mathieu on the Kwaremont and I did my absolute best but I just ran out of talent. The lights went out.”