Jorgenson reflects on Visma's Tour efforts against flawless Pogacar - 'We tried every card'

Visma | Lease a Bike's Matteo Jorgenson has admitted that the Dutch team tried everything they could to take advantage of any potential weaknesses of Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France in the Summer, but suggested that there were no cracks to be found in the dominant Slovenian’s armoury.

"I think we tried every card we could against Pogačar because it's not likely you're going to beat him man to man in a normal situation. So we were looking for creative ways, let's say, to beat him," Jorgenson said in the Domestique Hotseat podcast.

The American explained that Visma were looking to find weaknesses in the Slovenian during the opening stages, but to their dismay, they were unsuccessful in their search, such was Pogačar’s air of invincibility.

"The idea was to find one day in those first 10 days of the Tour a weakness in Pogačar, and we didn't ever find it. He had a flawless race, other than a crash, which we didn't take advantage of."

Jorgenson admitted that his own Tour hit a significant hurdle after a promising start when illness struck at an untimely moment. "The first rest day, I got really sick with a lung infection and just didn't really have anything in the high mountains," said Jorgenson, who faded from 5th overall at the end of the opening week to 19th by the race’s end.

Despite the team's inability to unsettle Pogačar, Jorgenson offered generous praise for his rival while defending Visma's aggressive race strategy.

"I think he's by far the best cyclist I've ever seen race. And I think that's awesome for the sport, but as his competitor, you're always looking for weaknesses…. And if you're not, then it would make the Tour pretty boring," said Jorgenson. 

"I respond to some people's criticism as to how some of our tactics trying to beat him are pointless, and I think well, what would the Tour be like if us as a team weren't there because we're a lot of times the only team trying to bring it to him."

"Pogačar is the type of competitor where it's difficult to find any kind of weakness in him, but I always believe we can win. If you don't believe you can win, then there's not really a point in showing up and doing all the sacrifice and preparation before," said Jorgenson.

Since the Tour, Pogačar himself has admitted that he was suffering from a knee problem in the closing stages, with Tim Wellens and Nils Politt both accounting for the jeopardy following stage 16’s finish on Mont Ventoux. Jorgenson was asked if he perceived the issue during the race.

"His margin in this Tour was so big that even some major problems, physically, he would have still been winning the race... If he was under stress in the Tour de France, then yeah, chapeau," Jorgenson concluded.

A standout moment from the Tour for Jorgenson was the final stage in Paris, when he helped his teammate Wout van Aert to victory from a select group on a rain-soaked circuit on the Champs-Élysées after distancing the yellow jersey Pogačar on the Montmartre climb.

"It was something I won't forget. Especially in the way that Wout won, by visibly distancing the yellow jersey. I was just behind getting dropped, and I could see it all happening in front of me," he recalled.

“I was super happy for Wout and just happy that night to be able to really celebrate finishing the Tour on a high note. I think we lost to a better rider [overall in Pogačar], like genuinely a way better rider, but we also still achieved things as a team, like that win, it felt really good.”

Watch the full episode with Matteo Jorgenson in the Domestique Hotseat 👇