American enthusiastic about Jumbo-Visma move despite cancelled merger
Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) in action at the Classics(Image credit: Getty Images)
Like everybody else, Matteo Jorgenson was blindsided by the news. Earlier this year, after drawing interest from just about every team in the WorldTour, the American had opted to sign with Jumbo-Visma and was looking forward to 2024.
When reports emerged of a merger/takeover between Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep last month, Jorgenson spent a week or so suddenly unsure as to where precisely he would land once the music stopped.
In the end, the two teams will continue as separate entities in 2024 and, in any event, Jorgenson was surely always going to find a home at whatever form Jumbo-Visma took for next year.
Even so, the proposed merger sent ripples through the two teams and beyond, with nobody’s future fully guaranteed protection from the prevailing current.
“I had some doubts personally when I read the news, because with a thing like that you never know,” Jorgenson tells Cyclingnews in Beihai on the opening day of the Tour of Guangxi.
“Literally anything could have happened, but eventually nothing came of it. I was slightly stressed in the first few days when I read it, but then eventually the team told me that nothing was happening, and that all was normal.
“Thoughts always cross your mind, but I wasn’t super worried. With contracts signed and with the UCI involved, they would have figured a solution for everyone, so I wasn’t too stressed. It just posed questions.”
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With that drama now set aside, Jorgenson can return to pondering the questions offered up by his sparkling 2023 season.
Victory at the Tour of Oman and eighth overall at Paris-Nice showcased his ability as a stage racer, while his displays on the cobbles – fourth at E3 Harelbeke and ninth at the Tour of Flanders – hinted at his potential in the Classics. He then went close to a stage victory at the Tour de France, only for Michael Woods to pass him close to the Puy du Dôme mountain finish.
At Movistar, Jorgenson had to cover the costs of personal training altitude camps and marginal gains but had the freedom to pursue results across all terrains. It remains to be seen if Jumbo-Visma will seek to direct his talents in a specific direction.
Contemporary cycling allows riders to be more versatile than they dared to be a generation ago but Jorgenson is mindful that specialisation has its benefits too.
“I think the super talents can do it all and they can do it all super well but I still think specialising helps. If you train for one thing, then you’re going to be way better at that one thing,” Jorgenson suggests.
“But I’m happy to do whatever they think. If they want me to do GC, I’ll do GC. If they want me to do Classics, I’ll do Classics. If they want me to do both, I’ll do both. I’ll be happy to do any combination of things. I’m just happy to have a clear plan. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Hopes and ambitions at Jumbo-Visma
Matteo Jorgenson won the Tour of Oman (Image credit: Getty Images)
Jorgenson joins a Jumbo-Visma squad that already contains Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard, Vuelta a España winner Sepp Kuss and the all-terrain gifts of Wout van Aert.
Rather than feel deterred by the prospect of such internal competition, Jorgenson was attracted by the striking improvements he had seen from other riders who had taken the leap to sign with Jumbo-Visma, so dominant in recent seasons.
“I think I just wanted a team where I could reach my highest level,” Jorgenson says.
“That’s what I’m most interested in at this point in my career, at least while I’m still young and when I think I have more margin for progression to go. I just wanted a team where I could get the most out of myself. That was my highest priority, to go somewhere I could reach my highest physical level.”
Not that Jorgenson hasn’t already been fighting for every available inch.
After his fine Spring campaign, the Idaho native revealed that he had spent the entirety of his year’s salary to that point on his own preparation, which included hiring a nutritionist, investing in his time trial set-up and embarking on solitary training camps.
Part of Jumbo-Visma’s appeal was the fact that such extras are already part of the package.
“I’m going to a team where I won’t have to do those things on my own and where I’ll have a structure around me, which I’m really looking to,” Jorgenson says.
“It will be a lot less personal stress and I won’t have to take charge of these things, they’ll kind of already be there, built-in.
“I think the best teams and the best riders have been doing what I did in the Spring for years and years consecutively, and I think that’s where these things add up. Every year that you do it, you get better. I think there’s still a lot of progression to go.”
Racing deep into 2023 to be good in 2024
Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) crosses the finish line atop Puy de Dôme (Image credit: Getty Images)
Jorgenson’s 2023 season was ultimately one of two halves, bisected by the crash that brought a premature end to a most promising Tour de France.
20th overall in the previous edition, he had started this year’s race with the stated aim of landing a stage victory and he went close on the Puy de Dôme and once again at Belleville-en-Beaujolais. A crash in the Alps, however, left the 24-year-old with a torn thigh muscle and he was forced to abandon on the second rest day.
“I really wanted to win a stage of the Tour, so I left the race kind of disillusioned. I just didn’t want to think about bike racing for a while,” Jorgenson reveals.
“I had a nice break, and I went back to the States, which helped a lot mentally.”
Jorgenson returned to action at the Maryland Classic in September, and he later raced in Canada, Luxembourg and Italy, lining out at Il Lombardia last weekend before boarding a flight to China.
Jorgenson ought to be a contender on the short, sharp climb to Nongla on stage 4 but whatever the final result, the Chinese expedition isn’t simply a way of signing off on 2023. It’s also a part of the foundations for next year.
“I had to take a bunch of time off after the Tour, so physically I lost a lot of form,” Jorgenson says.
“It’s been a challenge just to reach a normal level again, which is fine. I’ve still had a decent second half to the season, even if I wasn’t close to my best. I basically wanted to get to a level before the off-season so I could be a little less stressed in the winter.”
Botched mergers notwithstanding, Jorgenson, with a future at Jumbo-Visma, has every reason to be serene.
Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
