Matteo Jorgenson has provided more details about his future ambitions in an interview with Cycling Weekly, following his second and eighth place finishes in the GC of the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France, respectively, this year. A few weeks ago, Tim Heemskerk, the coach of the 25-year-old American, already partly answered the question of whether Jorgenson could potentially be a future grand tour winner. "It’s still a discovery process with him. He won Paris-Nice, nearly won the Dauphiné, and now he’s finishing in the top ten of the Tour. He’s an all-rounder with a good time trial. Will he be someone for the podium in grand tours? He has already taken a huge step in that direction. But just like with Jonas (Vingegaard, ed.), I never talked about winning with him, and I’m not going to do that with Matteo either."
When can we expect to see Jorgenson as a Visma | Lease a Bike leader in a major tour?
Jorgenson has now also spoken about this goal. "I think that after the Tour de France, my opinion on competing for the general classification has somewhat changed," he told the English-language magazine. "But in the Tour, I didn’t have any days where I was truly exceptionally bad. I had a few bad days, no doubt about that, but I didn’t have a day where I lost everything, and I felt really good, especially in the third week, which has never been the case for me before."
According to Jorgenson, who hails from California, it should be within his ability to maintain peak form for three weeks. "I think at some point in my career, I would like to take on the challenge of going for the general classification in a grand tour. When exactly, I don’t know. It could be next year, or it might not be until 2027. But I do know for sure that I want to try it at least once."