Visma place Ardennes hopes in 21-year-old after losing Jorgenson at Amstel

Matteo Jorgenson was at the centre of the team’s plans for the Ardennes Classics, but those ambitions ended abruptly with 41 kilometres remaining. The American crashed after Kévin Vauquelin went down in front of him, and later examinations confirmed a broken collarbone, ruling him out of both the La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

For Visma, the impact goes beyond losing a rider in form. The entire Ardennes strategy had been built around Jorgenson, who had deliberately shifted his focus this season to target these races.

“It’s one setback after another for us,” said sports director Maarten Wynants to Het Laatste Nieuws. “Matteo was our leader, and he was good, but he crashed.”

The situation is compounded by earlier setbacks within the squad. Ben Tulett was already absent from Amstel due to illness, and his condition remains uncertain heading into the final races of the week. “We’ll have to see if Ben can still get fit in time,” Wynants added. “At the moment, it’s difficult. Things just aren’t going our way.”

Earlier, new signing Louis Barré had also dropped out, having struggled to find form due to lingering fitness issues.

Despite the obvious gap in leadership, the team has ruled out any last minute reshuffle involving its biggest names. Wout van Aert will not be redirected to Liège as a replacement option. “Wout has just come back from a short holiday,” Wynants said. “That’s not the best preparation for Liège.”

There will be no change of course either for Jonas Vingegaard or Victor Campenaerts, both of whom remain on altitude training in preparation for the Giro d Italia. “We want to stick to the plan we have for that Giro trajectory,” Wynants explained. “We’re not going to adjust that now.”

Instead, Visma will turn inward and rely on a younger group to carry the load. Jørgen Nordhagen is expected to take on a more prominent role despite his limited experience at this level. The 21-year-old has already shown encouraging signs this season, most notably last week as best of the rest behind Adam Yates at O Gran Camiño, but stepping into a leadership role at Liège marks a significant leap in responsibility.

“We still have strong riders,” Wynants said. “Nordhagen will ride and he’s already shown good things, but of course it’s different when you suddenly have to change everything.”