'It might be my proudest victory': Jorgenson plays MVP role in McNulty's Worlds triumph

When McNulty set off on his solo pursuit with 32.5km remaining, Jorgenson played his role in the chasing group flawlessly, helping ensure his compatriot could hold on to win America’s first elite men’s road race since Lance Armstrong in 1993 in Oslo. 

Jorgenson latched himself immediately onto the back wheel of every attack in the closing laps, including a flurry of efforts from the likes of Tom Pidcock, Giulio Ciccone, and Mathieu van der Poel. 

In the end, McNulty had more than enough time to plan his celebration, and behind Jorgenson, having played the teammate role to perfection, finished in the chasing pack in eighth.

Speaking to Eurosport after the finish, Jorgenson was asked if he could be considered the MVP for his performance in the finale, but the Visma star was quick to praise both McNulty as well as Quinn Simmons, who also marked the late attacks, having been on the attack earlier in the race.

“I’ll accept that. I think Brandon [McNulty] was probably the MVP, but Quinn [Simmons] and I did an amazing race,” Jorgenson told Eurosport. 

Before the race, multiple members of the United States squad had acknowledged that they were part of one of the strongest sides that the nation had ever produced. 

In order to capitalise on that, Jorgenson admitted that a key reason for McNulty’s success was the ability for the team to put their individual ambitions aside in pursuit of a single objective, delivering an American world champion.

“We set our egos aside a little bit, and we decided we just wanted an American to win this race,” Jorgenson said.

Jorgenson highlighted Simmons following the dangerous early move of Mathieu van der Poel, and eventually Wout van Aert. Simmons' response allowed Jorgenson and McNulty to keep their cards close before allowing one of them to try and go solo, which was ultimately the latter.  

“And I really think we think that we played the perfect race, with Quinn able to follow that move with Wout [Van Aert] and [Mathieu] van der Poel to neutralise it.”

“And then Brandon and I were able to take advantage of Isaac del Toro, who spent a bunch of energy, and as soon as it all came back together, we could get one of us solo, which was the ultimate goal.”

As a key member of Visma, Jorgenson has been part of many major successes alongside the likes of Jonas Vingegaard, Van Aert, and himself. However, he admitted that McNulty’s success might rank at the top.

“It might be my proudest victory,” said Jorgenson. “I mean, right now it’s easy to say that, but I really believe I spent a lot of time thinking about this.”