“The Tour is always the highlight of my season” – Even with Visma's Classics leadership, Matteo Jorgenson still centres 2026 around Jonas Vingegaard

Matteo Jorgenson will have more freedom in 2026 than at any point since joining Team Visma | Lease a Bike. More leadership in the spring. A reworked calendar. New personal targets.

And yet, when he talks about what really defines his season, his answer does not change. “The Tour is always the highlight of my season.”

That line, given in Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s official press release setting out his 2026 programme, cuts straight through the rest of his plans. No matter how much responsibility he carries in the classics, July remains the emotional centre of his year.

For the full picture of how Jorgenson’s role fits into Visma’s wider 2026 strategy alongside Jonas Vingegaard, Wout van Aert and the women’s team, see our main hub: Visma confirm full 2026 plans of Van Aert, Vingegaard, Jorgenson and more.

Jorgenson is not hiding the fact that he needed something different. “The past two seasons were almost identical for me, so a change was welcome,” he said. “The coming year brings new impulses and challenges. It felt like the right moment to try something new.”

That change starts in the spring. After making his name in the Flemish races, his focus now shifts clearly towards the Ardennes, with Liege Bastogne Liege already standing out as a defining target.

“Ideally, I’d like to ride all the spring classics, but if you really want to perform well in the Ardennes, you have to make choices,” he explained. “One of my main goals in the spring is Liege Bastogne Liege, a race I’m hugely excited about. I feel that this type of race, with longer climbs, suits me better.”

That is not a step away from leadership. It is a different kind of leadership. “I’m setting the bar high, and that makes it a great challenge.”

Perhaps the clearest sign of change is what he is leaving behind. Paris-Nice has been a fixed point in his calendar, and a successful one. But in 2026, he will not defend the title he has won twice.

“At first, I was hesitant when the idea of skipping Paris-Nice was raised, but with my goals later in the season in mind, this is the right decision,” Jorgenson said.

Instead, he moves into the Italian block. “That’s why I’ve chosen to race the Italian block this year, with Strade Bianche, Tirreno Adriatico and Milan San Remo.”

It is a deliberate break from comfort. Not because he has to, but because he wants to.

Before July arrives, Jorgenson will still be allowed to ride for himself.

In the build-up to the Tour de France, he will go to the Tour de Suisse with space to chase his own general classification result, a chance that still matters to him. “It’s an ideal opportunity to race as a leader for the general classification once again, something that really motivates me.”

But even when he talks about leadership, he is already pointing forward. “I’ll do everything I can to be in top form and to support Jonas Vingegaard as best as possible.”

That sentence holds the balance of his 2026. Ambition in the spring. Opportunity before July. And then, when the Tour begins, clarity of purpose.

Jorgenson is not stepping away from his own goals. He is just ordering them.

He will lead in the Ardennes. He will chase results in Italy. He will go to the Tour de Suisse with freedom. But when he looks at the season as a whole, the emotional centre does not move.

Spring will test his ambition. Italy will stretch his range. Switzerland will offer him responsibility. Yet the season will still be judged by what happens in France.

In 2026, even with classics leadership and personal targets, Matteo Jorgenson still measures his year by how well he supports Jonas Vingegaard in July.