'Del Toro was stronger at every turn' - Jorgenson nabs second at Tirreno-Adriatico

Matteo Jorgenson will rue his crash on the gravel at San Gimignano earlier in the week, but he had no complaints about missing out on overall victory behind an untouchable Isaac del Toro at Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Visma | Lease a Bike rider nabbed a three-second time bonus to leapfrog Giulio Pellizzari to move into second overall on the final stage in San Benedetto del Tronto on Sunday, but he was well aware that Del Toro had long since put the Trident trophy beyond his reach.

“I’m happy, I’m really happy with second place,” Jorgenson told Eurosport. “In the end, we came here to win, for sure. I would have really liked to have won that Trident, but Del Toro, man, he was stronger than me at every turn, even in the time trial. There was no place that I could come around him.”

Jorgenson ended the week 40 seconds down on Del Toro, and while he conceded more than half of that deficit on the gravel stage, he was unable to claw back any ground on the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider later in the week on the tough finales at Mombaroccio and Camerino. 

Sunday’s final stage to San Benedetto del Tronto was always likely to lend itself to the sprinters, despite Mathieu van der Poel briefly splitting the field over the climb of Ripatransone with 90km to go. With no prospect of a late offensive against Del Toro’s blue jersey, Jorgenson and Visma focused on picking off Pellizzari at the intermediate sprint, where the American was led out by Wout van Aert.

“I think in a race like this, the bonus seconds are really important. I think I missed some opportunities during the week so on the last day, it was nice to get it right and have a nice last day,” Jorgenson said. “It was the one thing we could do today, and it all came together pretty well, so I’m pretty happy.”

Jorgenson becomes only the third American to finish on the podium of Tirreno-Adriatico after Greg LeMond took third behind Giuseppe Saronni in 1982 and Chris Horner placed second behind Vincenzo Nibali in 2012.

The result continues Jorgenson’s promising start to 2026 after he took fourth at the Ardèche Classic, second at the Drôme Classic and eighth at Strade Bianche. The 26-year-old’s next outing will come at Milan-Sanremo, where he lines out in support of Wout van Aert, but he will forgo the cobbled Classics this year in order to target Liège-Bastogne-Liège. “I race Sanremo next Saturday, then it’s time for some altitude training for the Ardennes,” he said.