Movistar management are quietly confident that Matteo Jorgenson is capable of carrying the lead of the Tour of Oman all the way to the finish on Wednesday, even if the gaps on GC are currently minimal.
After placing fourth on Sunday’s first hilly stage, Jorgenson took possession of the red jersey with a blistering attack to win the summit finish at Jabal Hatt on stage 3, but 14 riders remain within the ‘danger zone’ of 35 seconds or less in the overall standings.
Despite the narrow margins, both Jorgenson and his squad feel that a GC defence on the two remaining stages, including the decisive ascent to Jabal Al Akhdhar on Wednesday, is more than feasible.
“We’re 100 percent with him, my pre-plan race for him was top three, so we came here with that idea of a really good GC and a team built for that,” Movistar sports director at Oman Max Sciandri told Cyclingnews as he and other team staff proudly watched the winner’s podium ceremony.
“Green Mountain [Jabal Al Akhdhar] is a tough beast with over 10% gradients, so it depends a lot on the legs there, but the team is there for him for sure.”
Sciandri revealed that management and riders had held a meeting after stage 2 to ensure that the squad was collectively on its toes for Monday’s stage. But no matter the background and no matter how the team had raced as a unit, Jorgenson’s individual effort was ultimately what counted the most – and he pulled his attack off brilliantly.
“We had a good team meeting on Sunday night because although the first summit [on stage 2] finish went well for Matteo, before the climb we weren’t all completely together as a team and this time we wanted to be sure they stayed focused. And this time round it really worked out,” Sciandri said.
“The final climb, though – you can talk as much as you want in the meetings and stuff like that, but then it comes down to the riders.”
Jorgenson specifically thanked the team for showing their confidence in him as a racer despite his lengthy fight to land his first professional win, and Sciandri confirmed that Movistar “had always believed in Matteo.”
“I spoke to Matteo last week, he said he’d been training well, and he thought he could be up there and today he showed he could do it,” said Sciandri.
“He’s a great guy, super-professional and super-dedicated. Sometimes when you look for that win too much, then you know you’re kind of hurting yourself. And we said, ‘We believe in you, take your time to get there.’
“Then through last year he did a good Tour de France [placing 20th overall - ed.] and I think the Tour changed him. Because a Grand Tour, and particularly the Tour, gives you that depth as a racer that no other race can give you. Coming out of the Tour, he had a different mentality.”
Jorgenson himself has also said that he’s normally better on longer climbs, rather than the punchy finishes like Jabal Hatt, which also gives him room for optimism for Wednesday. On Monday evening, he certainly sounded very upbeat about his chances of staying in red for the next two days.
“I feel really confident,” Jorgenson added to reporters after the ceremony. “I felt I was the strongest today, Wednesday’s different as a climb to today but I think I can manage it well.”
“Tomorrow [Tuesday] we’ll be back working for Max [Kanter, teammate] and hopefully he can get his first pro win, and we’ll just try to take it and win this race.”
