Matteo Jorgenson - An American Ready for Worlds

1st at Dwars Door Vlaanderen. 1st at Paris- Nice. 2nd at Dauphiné. 8th at Tour De France Final GC plus five top-10 stage finishes. 25 year-old American Matteo Jorgenson is having an incredible season for his first year with Visma | Lease a Bike. It’s certainly not an overnight success (in 2023, he won Tour of Oman and racked up top-10’s at E3 Saxo Classic and Tour of Flanders,) but without a doubt, Jorgenson is reaching new levels on Visma.

Giro caught up with Jorgenson as he shuttled between the World Tour races in Quebec and Montreal, just two weeks before the UCI World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland, where he will be the designated leader for Team USA. With his Visma teammates on the bus in the background sleeping or scrolling, the rider from Idaho who now calls Nice, France home shared his thoughts as a dark horse contender for the rainbow stripes of World Champion.

You had a great race in Quebec yesterday, with an attack off the front for the final kilometers before they reeled you in and there was a bunch sprint. After the season you’ve had this year, do you think the peloton is less likely to give you too many seconds than they were before?

For sure. I think that's an actual thing that happens, but I also don't think that [a win] would be the case yesterday. Just that race - I don't know if it ever hasn’t ended in a field sprint. I think in general, I think I'm more relaxed in the group, but that also goes both ways: I get a bit more respect here. You ride in the front and guys give you more space. It's not all bad.

With all your big results this year is there one that really stands out?

Paris-Nice definitely stands above everything. It is something I'll never forget. I never expected I had the capacity to win. It was just kind of like a shocker for myself to win at home on the roads that I train on every day. It was something that probably could be a highlight in my career. I've been going [to Paris-Nice] for years and it has just changed my whole opinion on myself and what I can achieve.

You’ve been back in the US for a while and we saw you were in Park City - was that part of some altitude training and are you doing any specific training before to get ready for Worlds?

Yeah, I was, because altitude really works for me, and I know that. I've already done three altitude camps this year, and they just kind of wear you down mentally, being in one place alone for a month at a time. So this time [in the US], every three-day training block, I would change locations in my sprinter van, so I'd have fresh roads throughout, and hopefully just slowly moving up. I was at 6,000 feet at the start, then last week, I was sleeping around 9,000 feet. I started in Boise, and then I went to Jackson Hole, then went down to Park City, then turned into Colorado, and spent some time in Aspen, and Steamboat, Boulder, and then made my way back to Park City. So, it was a really good, really nice time, just having a bit more chill experience with training, and basically went from one friends’ house to the next.

You've been going since February, so did a month off from racing feel like a hard reset? Do you feel like you're ready to kind of give it another push?

I think I’m looking forward to the rest of the year, I’m definitely motivated for the Championships. I trained well during the time I'm off. It's not like I was on vacation or something, but the season has gone better than I could have dreamed of so it’s not like I have any regrets or anything. So I'm just, I'm just approaching it a lot more calmly than I did before.

Looking ahead to the course in Zurich, where it's a really long 270 kilometer day, but it still has 4,500 meters of climbing, does it change your equipment selection at all?

No, not really. I have gone back and forth between the more-vented Aries, and the more aero Eclipse this year, and I have felt like the aero helmet vents really adequately. So I don't know for sure, but I'll probably go with that one, just because we go so fast that whatever aero benefits it has are worth it.

And what about the other racers, is there anyone you will really be watching?

Well, [Tadej] Pogacar for sure and you have to think about what Slovenia will do, what their tactic will be. And then I'll just have to race my own race.I think the best idea would be to try to anticipate his move a little bit. So go beforehand, because on a course that hard, I think when he goes, it's unlikely that I'd be able to follow up. If we're being realistic.

And what do you think your chances are?

I think a podium is possible. That's what I'm aiming for. So I'm really looking forward to it. I think I'm in good shape. Mentally, I’m really, really fresh. I'm wanting to race right now. I'm happy. And looking forward to it.