'Jonas truly believes he can beat Tadej' - Jorgenson hopes to offer more in pursuit of Pogacar

After nine punishing days in the heat, Matteo Jorgenson reached the first rest day encouraged by signs that his condition was finally beginning to improve.

His immediate priority, however, was recovery. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider admitted he was considering spending the entire day indoors, away from the extreme temperatures that had troubled him throughout the opening week.

“It will be nice to have a rest day,” Jorgenson told Cyclism'Actu after stage 9. “I might not even touch the bike tomorrow. I’ll just stay inside and get some air conditioning.”

Jorgenson hopes the break, combined with his improving condition, will allow him to have a greater influence on Visma’s pursuit of Tadej Pogačar during the remainder of the Tour de France.

Jorgenson had played an important part in Visma | Lease a Bike’s team time trial on the opening day, but was less prominent during the stages that followed.

The 27-year-old said in a conversation with In de Leiderstrui the prolonged heat had made it difficult to perform at his best. “It is a hard Tour de France,” he said. “I cannot immediately remember a harder edition. This is definitely the hottest.”

“The heat has a really bad effect on me. I have always been more of a cold weather rider.”

Jorgenson’s 28th place in the general classification, more than half an hour behind Tadej Pogačar, is not simply the result of a difficult opening week. Unlike in his previous two Tours with Visma | Lease a Bike, the American began this year’s race without any ambition of protecting his own position in the overall standings.

Jorgenson finished eighth in 2024 and entered last year’s Tour as a possible second option behind Vingegaard. Visma have abandoned that approach this time, allowing him to save energy in the finales and focus entirely on supporting the Dane in the mountains.

“It has not really worked in the other years,” Jorgenson told Feltet last week about combining his own general classification ambitions with a support role. “I am not going to win the Tour when Jonas and Pogačar are here, so it is much better for me to take it easy in the finales and be 100 percent focused on Jonas.” 

That also explains why Jorgenson has little interest in joining breakaways unless they serve Visma’s wider strategy.

“If we are in the breakaway, it is for defensive reasons,” he told In de Leiderstrui. “We are only looking at Jonas’ classification.”

Despite Vingegaard's 2:42 deficit to Pogačar, Jorgenson insisted that Visma Lease a Bike still believe they can challenge the yellow jersey.

The Slovenian arrived at the first rest day with a commanding lead, but Visma expects the longer mountain stages later in the race to offer a different test.

“Jonas leads by example,” Jorgenson said. “The way he fights against the best rider ever, he believes in himself, he fights every day and he wants to stay as close as possible.

“Jonas truly believes he can beat Tadej. I appreciate that about him. We all believe it. It is great to see.”

Jorgenson also reported signs of personal improvement towards the end of the opening week.

He felt he was coping better with the heat and was able to conserve more energy during the final stages before the rest day, leaving him more optimistic about his own condition for the second half of the race.

“I dealt with the last stages better and I was able to save some energy,” he said. “I did not have to go deep anymore, so that is a good sign for the second and third weeks.”