'Faking it until you make it' - Jorgenson on the sprint he had no idea how to ride

Matteo Jorgenson said he spent the closing kilometre of Tre Valli Varesine trying to work out what a sprinter would do, having arrived at the finish with two riders he had no intention of racing to the line.

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider finished third behind Widar and Pidcock, and was clear about the state that he was in regarding a sprint, with cramp becoming a limiting factor.

"I knew I was in a bit of a sticky situation there, but it was still a good day," Jorgenson told CyclingProNet and Domestique. "I didn't really have the legs to attack any earlier, I was kind of cramping the whole last lap."

With the bunch closing rapidly, the three spent the final kilometre looking at each other until young gun Jarno Widar rocketed away to victory. Jorgenson thought about what a sprinter would do in that situation.

"I was trying to think about what sprinters do. I don't do it very often, so I was thinking, okay, what do I do here? Do I look back? Do I go here?" he said. "Just kind of faking it until you make it.

"I'm happy with third, and congrats to Jarno. That was a nice sprint."

It continues a strong run through the Italian autumn for Jorgenson, who was fifth at the Giro dell'Emilia on Saturday after attacking on the penultimate ascent of San Luca and being brought back. His Visma teammate Davide Piganzoli won that day after Jorgenson did some textbook anchoring, similar to his exploits at the Worlds.

Il Lombardia follows on Saturday, the last Monument of the season, and Jorgenson's record there leaves room for improvement with his best result a 23rd in 2023, and a DNF in 2024.

"Definitely. It was a good day out," he said of his form. "I hope for my best result in Lombardia so far. It shouldn't be so difficult to do that, so I'm looking forward to it," concluded the American.