Matteo Jorgenson started the final day of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with fire in his belly, but it was extinguished on the Plateau de Solaison, where he "blew up" on the final climb of the race.
"These are the days that I train for, and I live for," he said as he prepared to start Sunday's finale, sitting second overall, 42 seconds down on the unlikely race leader Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
But just nine seconds behind was Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates), and the Mexican, having soared to victory the previous afternoon, went on to stamp his authority with a commanding win on the day and overall.
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Jorgenson knew several kilometres from the summit of the Solaison that his race had turned from a hunt for yellow into a salvage mission for the podium, and that looked to be on track until he came undone on the upper reaches of the punishing final climb.
Having ridden most of the climb as part of a small chase group behind Del Toro, Jorgenson suddenly ran into difficulty around 2.5km from the top. Tuckwell caught back up with him and finished in front of him, while Del Toro soared to the top step of the podium, and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) jumped too on with his attack for second place.
“It wasn’t my best day,” said Jorgenson, who ended the race fourth overall.
“The pace was incredibly high throughout the entire stage, so I quickly realised it was going to be difficult. I kept believing in myself and gave everything I had on the final climb. I fought for the win and tried to follow Del Toro for as long as possible.
"In the end, I blew myself up a little, but I have no regrets. I’m satisfied with my performance, and it gives me motivation to improve myself on the longer climbs."
Jorgenson can certainly take heart from his performance this week. He was meant to line up at the Tour de Suisse instead, but a collarbone break that wrecked his Ardennes Classics campaign altered his plans in the build-up to the Tour de France.
He was part of the Visma victory in the stage 3 team time trial, which gave him a handy advantage on his main GC rivals, but in the end, the brutal trio of mountain stages took their toll.
Jorgenson will now head to Tignes with his teammates, including Jonas Vingegaard, for a final altitude training camp ahead of the Tour de France, which starts in Barcelona on July 4.
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