Matteo Jorgenson said that he has "no excuses" after a tough stage 12 at the Tour de France saw him drop several times and eventually lose 10 minutes, falling from fifth to 10th in the general classification.
The American, set to be Jonas Vingegaard's right-hand man at this year's Tour, struggled with a "really bad day" during the 180.6km race from Auch to Hautacam, the race's first summit finish.
He dropped from the peloton on the stage's first climb, the Col de Soulor, with around 51km to run, and again struggled to stay in touch on the second climb, the steep 3.3km ascent of the Col des Bordères.
Jorgenson was among the first riders to drop back from the GC group on the stage's final ascent to Hautacam, eventually crossing the line in 15th place, 10:25 down on stage winner and new race leader Tadej Pogačar.
"Personally, I have no excuses. I just had a really bad day. I knew it from the start already," Jorgenson told WielerFlits among the media scrum after the stage.
"I already went full to make it in the front on the first climb, which turned out to be a mistake in the end. But you only know when you try. The last climb, I was completely empty."
As Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narváez set up Pogačar's devastating, race-changing attack, Vingegaard was left alone in the GC group, with Simon Yates and Sepp Kuss also dropping back having worked earlier in the stage.
Jorgenson, who lay fifth at 2:06 off the lead heading into the stage, said he intentionally dropped out of the GC race so he could be of more use to his team leader in future stages.
"I figured it was better to just disconnect from GC because I'm no use to Jonas anymore if I'm just minutes behind," Jorgenson said. "I was listening to the radio, and in front, it sounded like Tadej was just stronger, so congrats to them.
"For sure, we'll keep trying. We'll have to reassess and go forward."
Jorgenson was asked if the heat affected him during the stage, which was also run at a very quick 41.467kph average. Temperatures during the day reached into the mid-30s (90+ Fahrenheit) as the peloton raced through the Pyrenees in the south of France.
"It was super-hot and super-fast. The first 100km were, for me, incredibly hard," Jorgenson said. "I knew from the first kilometres that I was on a bad day. I just struggled through it. With the fight for the break and the heat, it was a really hard day.
"I have no excuses. I just had a bad day, and I'll have to get much better."
The Tour de France is the biggest race in cycling, and a Cyclingnews subscription offers you unlimited access to our unrivalled coverage. Get all the breaking news and analysis from our team on the ground in France, plus the latest pro tech, live race reports, and a daily subscriber-only newsletter with exclusive insight into the action. Find out more.
