Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) pushed past his limits in pursuit of victory trying to follow Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) at the GP Montréal, ultimately falling to 12th at the finish after 'ruining his legs' when the Slovenian made his race-winning move.
Pogačar made his bid for glory out of teammate Rafał Majka's wheel with 23.3km to go on the penultimate ascent of the Côte Camilien-Houde and Jorgenson was the closest rider to him, locked in and ready to react.
The American tried what he could after a brutal five hours of racing in the Montréal heat had already passed, however quickly the bike lengths opened. Just a few hundred metres later, Pogačar was gone and the race was as good as over.
"I tried to follow Pogačar two laps to go on the climb and kind of ruined my legs at that moment," said Jorgenson to Cyclingnews as he described the final few laps.
"But for me, it's worth it to try because that's the way to win - follow him. So I was trying to win the race and didn't have the legs after that."
Jorgenson was joined by teammates Tiesj Benoot and Bart Lemmen in the chasing group which remained after UAE Team Emirates had lit up much of the 209 kilometres, chasing down the day's three-man break and finally launching their superior leader.
Lemmen made it into a four-man move as the chasers crossed the finish and got the bell for the last lap, however, this didn't survive long, leaving the Visma team to settle for a top result of seventh through Benoot in the final sprint for third behind Pogačar and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), who had gotten away solo.
"We were trying to get on the podium but we were quite marked out," said Jorgenson at the line after drenching himself with water after the brutal one-day race. "People were just following us and that makes sense but that's how it goes."
Despite only finishing 12th in Montréal and 35th in Friday's GP Québec, Jorgenson highlighted how he is on the right trajectory ahead of the World Championships in Zürich, where he will take on the road race on September 29.
He'll make up part of a "super strong" US elite men's squad, with other racers present in Canada also set to take the start in Switzerland, notably Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers), who also finished in the top 25 on Sunday.
"For sure, I think it was a good stimulus and good to get back racing," concluded the 25-year-old.
It'll likely be Pogačar again that he's trying to beat in Zürich, with the Slovenian's victory in Canada confirming his as the pre-race favourite, however with a star-studded team filled with the USA's top rising talent, Jorgenson won't be afraid to get burnt again if it means he's in with a shout of victory.
