Matteo Jorgenson could barely walk after warming down on his time trial bike in a tree-lined side street near to the finish of stage four of the Tour de France in Rouen.
The American had just given it everything for Visma-Lease a Bike in yet another display of aggressive racing from the Dutch super team on the punchy inner city finish. Jorgenson had been Visma’s not so secret plan of attack; the man from Idaho was the hidden ace they planned to lay out on the table in a show of force ahead of Wednesday’s time trial in Caen.
After hobbling across to the media, Jorgenson praised the work of his teammates Victor Campanaerts and Tiesj Benoot who had marshalled the reduced front group in the closing stages, ensuring Visma held the upper hand as the final approached. Jorgenson himself tried to get clear but UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and Tadej Pogačar, had other ideas; the world champion went on to score his 100th career victory.
"We just wanted to try to get me ahead and win the stage solo if we could," the 26-year-old said. "They [UAE] just had too many numbers for us, but I was going for the stage. We knew the final was going to be pretty chaotic with so many wide climbs, and then narrow descents, and a lot of street furniture in the corners.
"We wanted to at least take the descents first to stay safe and try to string it out a little bit. We had a plan on the last climb to have Tiesj lead it, but UAE had other plans with [João] Almeida. Jonas was very strong to be able to follow Pogačar when he attacked really strongly. I then came back with Remco [Evenepoel] and we had to then try to find a way to get ahead in the final but, again, Almeida was super strong so chapeau to them."
'I'm more explosive now'
Prior to Pogačar launching a trademark explosive dig on the penultimate climb, UAE’s Almeida, the winner of the recent Tour de Suisse, was the only rider able to break the Visma stranglehold. The Portuguese stifled an attack from Jorgenson in order to tee up his team leader, and Vingegaard was the only rider able to follow Pogačar when his inevitable attack finally came.
"I was very impressed with Jonas, very impressed," Jorgenson added. "Jonas is a legend. I didn’t even consider trying to follow there so I’m glad he did. I think we will recover well tonight and tomorrow will be a new day."
Vingegaard spoke before the race of his new found strength, revealing that he had bulked out his muscle mass in an attempt to match Pogačar’s explosiveness. As he did in Boulogne-sur-Mer on stage two, the Dane showed yet again that he’s capable of following the world champion on short, sharp climbs, but both times he has been forced to settle for third, behind Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel.
"It was a brutal final, a lot of small climbs in the end," Vingegaard said. "Once again, when it comes down to a sprint like this, I can be happy with third. Obviously, I was closer today for second place, so it's a pity that I couldn't take it.
"I've said it already that I'm more explosive now, and to be honest on the climb there I think I showed it – that was probably my best ever one minute performance, so I think the shape is good, and I'm looking forward to the next few days."
The Tour resumes with a flat 33km time trial starting and finishing in Caen on Wednesday.
