Matteo Jorgenson has been tipped as a future Tour de France contender and possible winner, but this year, his main role will be that of supporting teammate Jonas Vingegaard, say Visma-Lease a Bike management.
Jorgenson’s potential status as a GC contender had been the subject of a great deal of internet speculation in the last few weeks. That was accentuated after taking a surprising second place overall in the Critérium du Dauphiné and dropping overall winner Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) on the last summit finish, coupled with Vingegaard on the comeback trail from his Itzulia Basque Country crash.
However, in an interview to discuss both the announcement Thursday that Vingegaard will be racing the Tour and other questions, Visma-Lease a Bike lead director sportif Merijn Zeeman played down the American’s status as a GC contender.
Zeeman also emphasised Jorgenson's role as a support worker, which he said Jorgenson fully agreed with. That said, he also added that for the first time in a Grand Tour, Jorgenson would be "not losing time on GC on purpose" and that "tactically, we will be using our numbers."
At the same time, Zeeman confirmed that Sepp Kuss - who quit the Dauphiné ill and whose season has been a quiet one to date - would be racing as a key team worker in the Tour de France, with his main GC focus defending his title in the Vuelta a España this August.
Zeeman also added that Kuss would not be the only GC option for Visma in Spain in the autumn but did not specify who might be riding for the overall there as well.
“I really believe that Matteo Jorgenson will be a very good rider in the future, he will have a chance to win the Tour de France in his career as well but he is still developing,” Zeeman told a small group of reporters on Thursday.
“He has had a fantastic season. But tactically, of course, we will use our numbers as well. That’s very clear. But also, the reality is that Jonas is, at this moment, our rider that can win the Tour de France.”
Such was the intensity of media speculation earlier this week that Vingegaard could become a worker for Jorgenson that the American playfully dismissed the idea himself, reacting to the idea when discussed in a forum chat on leading cycling website Wielerflits with the dry comment (and several laughing emojis) "Y'all are unhinged. Wtf."
As for Kuss, Zeeman said, “Sepp can be mainly a helper for Jonas in the Tour, and he will be one of the GC leaders in” - as he jokingly described the Vuelta - “that race in Spain.”
Regarding Jorgenson, who has had a breakthrough first half of the year with wins overall in Paris-Nice and in the one-day Dwars door Vlaanderen, Zeeman explained that “If we analyse the WorldTour season, Matteo is among the best riders in the world.”
“He’s had a remarkable progression and is a fantastic rider to have in the team, incredible to work with, a real leader and he really makes our team stronger.
“This is also for him the first time he will go to a Grand Tour and he will not lose time on purpose, so that will be his role.
“Tactically, it can happen that he will play a role, and by that, he’s helping the team. And you never know what is happening in the Tour de France.
“But Matteo himself is very clear that he is going to the Tour to help Jonas. The intention is that he wants to help the team, and he will help the team by supporting Jonas as well as possible.”
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