Matteo Jorgenson has outlined his ambitions for 2026 and beyond, stating that he hopes to win a race on the road again this year while also aiming to lead Visma-Lease A Bike at a Grand Tour in the near future.
The American triumphed at Paris-Nice for the second time in a row last year before going on to support Jonas Vingegaard as the Dane took second in the Tour de France and won the Vuelta a España.
Along the way, he took eight top-five results, including a second place on the final day of the Race to the Sun and fourth at Dwars door Vlaanderen, but he hasn't celebrated a win on the road since taking victory at Dwars in 2024.
"I would really like to put my arms in the air, to win a race on the road," Jorgenson said in an interview posted to Visma-Lease A Bike's YouTube channel.
"I would love to win a GC, but my main goal in the next year is to go back to winning a race and come across the finish line first somewhere. Whether that's a stage of the Tour de France, a one-day race, a stage of a week-long stage race, whatever. I really want to do that."
A stage of the Tour, where he took two fifth-place finishes last summer, is high on his mind, though Jorgenson recognised that chances to do so are rare on a team built to support Vingegaard's GC ambitions.
"Not just a Grand Tour stage, I want to win a stage of the Tour de France. That has evaded me for my whole career now, and I feel a hunger for that like no other race. I really would like to do that," he said.
"If I'm ever given the opportunity, you just have to have stars align because on this team, we're there for Jonas. We'll be there to help, and you really need stars to align to where you're healthy, he's in a secure enough position, and there's a stage that suits you, and you get in the breakaway. I think I have a chance of that happening, and I just have to wait for it and be patient."
Jorgenson is also eyeing a future Grand Tour leadership spot, though when and where that may come remains to be seen. Vingegaard could be taking on the Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double next season, having hinted at his ambition to complete the Grand Tour set.
Visma-Lease A Bike's plans for the Vuelta are wide open, so does Simon Yates' shock retirement open up a GC leadership spot on the Dutch squad? We'll have to wait and see.
"Grand Tours for me are the biggest races in cycling. I really don't know if it's possible, and that kind of weighs on my mind, but I'm told by the performance team and people around me that they think it is possible and they believe in it," Jorgenson said about the possibility of leading the team at a future Grand Tour.
"So, that helps me believe. I think in the future – I don't know if it would be this year or what – I'd like to try to do one as a leader. It might never work out, but I think it would be nice to try, and it is a dream, for sure."
Whatever Jorgenson ends up doing, the 26-year-old is locked in with the team for four more seasons, having signed a contract extension last summer.
From the outside, it may have seemed a natural, easy choice to make for the Californian, but Jorgenson admitted that he took some time to think before he was sure of his decision.
"I needed to feel sustainable in this job that I could do it at this level for four more years before I signed a piece of paper that was committing myself to doing that, and so it took me a long time to actually agree to my extension," he said.
"It was proposed to me early in the year, and it took me months and months to feel right about it. That was just a result of thinking and seeing how I could keep doing this because I think it takes a lot of sacrifice to be a cyclist. I was very aware of that this year in how much I'm giving up in other parts of my life. I wanted to feel right with that, and it felt like a huge moment when I signed the piece of paper for me personally.
"It makes me really happy to have gone through that process in my head in working through my life. Now to have four years ahead of me and a long-term commitment with real people in the team, it feels good to know that I have trust from the team and this commitment we can share going forward."
