Whilst there were some question marks over Team Visma | Lease a Bike's leadership at the 2024 Tour de France pre-race, Jonas Vingegaard has emphatically put those questions to bed over the first, near two weeks of racing, showing no signs of a lack of form following his mass crash. As such, the team's GC plan B, Matteo Jorgenson, has been consigned to mostly domestique duty.
That may not always be the case however, and the American, speaking to De Volkskrant has admitted that whilst he himself is unsure about a future as a Grand Tour rider, Team Visma | Lease a Bike see the Paris-Nice winner as a future Tour de France contender. "Yeah, I have the feeling that it is going that way," admits Jorgenson, who also finished runner-up at the Criterium du Dauphine recently. "But nobody has told me that explicitly."
Having already displayed his one day ability this year also however, winning at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, Jorgenson remains unsure where would be best for him to focus on going forward as a rider, although he is confident he could balance both Classics and Grand Tour goals. "I only have to tweak my weight a little bit if I do the Tour in the summer after the spring races," he explains. "I think that if I go for the general classification in a grand tour, there is still enough room to do one-day races in the spring. I really like doing them and they also make me a better rider. Just look at this year: I did quite well in the classics and now in the Tour it is also going well."
Arguably the biggest barrier to any potential Tour de France contention for Jorgenson however, is his own teammate and two time Maillot Jaune winner, Jonas Vingegaard. "The way Jonas is riding now, no one will take over his role in the Tour," admits the American. "But who knows: maybe I get a chance in the other Grand Tours. So I'm trying to learn as much as I can."
POV you just woke up dazed and confused in a twin sized bed. You quickly check google maps to find out you are halfway down the Massif Central in France yet you could swear you were riding up the San Luca in Bologna, Italy like yesterday ?????!? #TDF2024
