After four stages of the 2025
Tour de France,
Matteo Jorgenson has proven why he's being positioned by some as
Team Visma | Lease a Bike's secret weapon. A key part of the Visma train, the American has been glued to the side of
Jonas Vingegaard, with the pair sat 3rd and 4th in the general classification ahead of the stage 5 time trial.
"We knew the final was going to be quite chaotic,"
began Jorgenson's post-stage assessment in conversation with NBC Sports Cycling, having crossed the finish line in 8th, losing 3 seconds before bonuses to Tadej Pogacar, Vingegaard and the Yellow Jersey
Mathieu van der Poel. "There were so many wide climbs, and then descents with plenty of street furniture, so we wanted to at least take the descents first and keep safe. So we strung it out, and then we had a plan on the last climb to let Tiesj Benoot do it, but UAE had other plans with Joao Almeida."
Once Almeida had done his pull, the big attack came. "Pogacar attacked super strongly," Jorgenson recalls. "But Jonas was very strong to follow. I came back with Remco Evenepoel, and then I tried to find a way to get ahead in the final, but again, Almeida was super strong so chapeau to him."
As already touched upon, Jorgenson himself went on the attack in the final, and although he couldn't manage to get clear, it's a strong signal of intent from himself and the Visma team. "That was the plan, try to win the stage solo if we could," he explains. "But yeah, they just had too many numbers for us."
In Vingegaard however, Visma did still have someone competing for the stage as the Dane came home an impressive 3rd on a parcours that isn't typically suited to him. "Very impressed! Jonas is a legend," Jorgenson smiles. "I didn't even consider trying to follow there, but I'm glad he did."