Team Visma's promise: Matteo Jorgenson's chance to shine isn't over!

Having ditched Movistar Team, and moved to pastures new at Team Visma | Lease a Bike, Matteo Jorgenson could be set for a career-defining year in 2024. Contrary to rumours, the American won't just be used as a super-domestique either.

“Those kind of comments are not correct,” the team's sports manager, Merijn Zeeman insists in conversation with Velo, shooting down rumours that Jorgenson's progression will be stifled by a lack of leadership opportunities. “People who are saying that he will only work for the others don’t really follow our team”

The 23-year-old excelled in the opening months of 2023, including taking overall victory at the Tour of Oman. Was this where the then-Jumbo-Visma first raised an interest in Jorgenson? “A few years ago already we were following his progress," answers Zeeman. "He caught our attention, and step by step, we started to follow him. Early in 2023, we had the talks with him and the conversations. I think in March I had the first really long talk with him, and just after that, we found an agreement.”

“It’s a combination of his personality and his qualities as a rider,” explains Zeeman. “First of all, most important for us, was his mindset and his eagerness to get better, and what we can offer, training-wise, equipment-wise, nutrition-wise, and having a real strong lineup of riders who are super professional; that’s what he was looking for.”

And as mentioned, Jorgenson will be allowed his chance to shine over the coming year. “Our classics team is not focused on one leader. If you look at all the riders who have won a classic on our team, not many teams can say that,” he said. “With Christophe Laporte, with Tiesj Benoot, Olav Kooij, Wout van Aert, we have a lot of riders who won a race or had a possibility to go well all across the year.”

“Even in the Tour de France team, you can always see, and maybe it’s difficult for people to see our strategy, it’s always very well thought out, it’s not conservative, many times we are in breakaways, and guys get the opportunity to win stages," Zeeman concludes. “There are a lot of riders getting possibilities to work on a team where no one is bigger than the team, but it also counts for the leader.”