Matteo Jorgenson starts Tour de France stage 11 despite illness
The American travelled to the start separately from his Visma | Lease a Bike teammates as a precaution, but he remains in the Tour.
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Matteo Jorgenson has started stage 11 of the Tour de France despite an illness that saw him travel to the start in Vichy in a team car rather than on the bus with his Visma | Lease a Bike.
The American later reported for the sign on wearing a face mask, and sports director Marc Reef told In De Leiderstrui that the team was erring on the side of caution with Jonas Vingegaard’s key domestique.
“He’s feeling a little under the weather. We’re keeping him on the sidelines, mainly as a precaution,” said Reef, who was reluctant to speculate on the severity of Jorgenson’s illness. “It’s hard to say anything about that. We’ll see how it develops.”
Jorgenson suffered a crash on stage 10 to Le Lioran, when he was among the fallers on the treacherous descent of the Puy Mary.
Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), who was also a faller on the same descent, blamed his own crash on the whitewash that had been applied to the road surface in order to prevent the tarmac from melting amid soaring temperatures.
Jorgenson reached the finish with a bandage on his left elbow, though Visma downplayed his injuries. “He has some scrapes, but that’s about it,” Reef said.
After serving as Visma’s back-up GC option at the past two Tours, placing eighth overall in 2024, Jorgenson set out in a purely supporting role this time out. He currently lies 27th overall, more than 45 minutes down on yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar.
Jorgenson played a pivotal part in helping the team to victory in the team time trial in Barcelona on the opening day, but he confessed to struggling with the extreme heat in the opening half of the race.
Twelve months ago, Visma sought to put Pogačar under pressure at every turn, but Vingegaard’s squad has been more subdued this time around, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG dictating the terms of engagement throughout the Tour thus far.
As the Tour reaches its midpoint, Vingegaard lies second overall, already some 3:36 off Pogačar.
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