Matteo Jorgenson has revealed he is suffering in the heat of the Tour de France as he works in a different, purely domestique role for Jonas Vingegaard.
The American opted for a low-key, relaxing rest day on Monday, after saying he planned to take advantage of a day with air conditioning rather than spending hours racing in the canicule heat of central France.
This year's Tour is expected to set a new record average temperature as France and much of Europe suffers under a heatwave. Red weather alerts have been issued for many parts of central France in recent days, with stage 9 shortened by 30km and rules on feeding relaxed so riders can take on more liquids and ice to help them fight the heat.
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It was 31°C at the start of stage 10 in Aurillac on Tuesday but cooler at the 1,240 metre-high summit finish at the Le Lioran ski resort.
"It is a tough Tour de France, I can't immediately remember a tougher edition. This is certainly the hottest,' Jorgenson, who comes from the cooler climate of Idaho, told Dutch website In de Leiderstrui.
"The heat is having a very bad effect on me. I have always been more of a cold-weather rider.
'It is a challenge to deal with it, although I got through the last stages better and was able to conserve some energy. I didn't have to dig deep anymore, so that is a good sign heading into the second and third weeks."
Jorgenson finished tenth in the 2024 Tour de France and tenth in the 20215 Vuelta a España but has given up on any GC ambitions this year.
"It has not really worked in the other years,” Jorgenson admitted to Feltet early in the Tour about riding the GC.
"I'm not going to win the Tour when Jonas and Tadej Pogačar are here, so it's much better for me to take it easy in the finals and be 100% focused on Jonas. If we go in the breakaway, it is for defensive reasons. We are only looking at Jonas’ classification," he told In de Leiderstrui.
Vingegaard currently lies 2:42 down on Pogačar as the Tour heads deep into the mountains of the Massif Central for stage 10 on Tuesday, with 3,800 metres of climbing and a hilltop finish in Le Lorian.
Vingegaard caught and beat Pogačar on the same finish in 2024, and Visma-Lease a Bike and Jorgenson remain upbeat about their GC hopes in this year's Tour.
"I think Jonas is a leader by example. He's up against maybe the greatest cyclist of all time, still believes in himself, and still fights every day to stay as close as possible.," Jorgenson told Cyclingnews.
"I can only really applaud him because he really believes that he can beat him, and we all do. I think it's amazing to see."
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