Matteo Jorgenson isn't Jonas Vingegaard. But to Visma-Lease a Bike, he is something quite interesting.
When Jorgenson took his first Paris-Nice title in 2024, he barged his way into the already sizable stable of talented Visma riders vying for race leadership across the calendar. It was a prestigious club, but it wasn't an especially exclusive one within the team; this is Visma after all, where Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert routinely headline lineups full of riders that would lead Grand Tour and Classics bids on other teams.
Now that Jorgenson has taken his second Paris-Nice title, the narrative is shifting. One year on from his first WorldTour victory, he has substantially beefed up his credentials as a star even in this star-studded lineup. In addition to emerging as a legitimate Classics threat, he took runner-up honors at last year's Critérium du Dauphiné and a top-10 finish at the Tour de France before proving over the course of last week that he can win Paris-Nice even with a target on his back.
At this point, it is fair to wonder where he fits into Visma's plans as a bona fide Grand Tour contender. Before you dismiss that as exactly the sort of thing American cycling commentators have been saying for a decade every time any American does something remotely interesting, we'll point out that Jorgenson himself has not hidden his ambitions – and that the team seems willing to give him some chances too.
"Now it's time to set the bar higher. I can't say that I'm capable of winning a Grand Tour, but at least I want to try," Jorgenson said after his Paris-Nice win. "I want to work towards that."
In fact, it seems that he has been working towards that goal since last season, when he said "the team asked" him whether he wanted "to race a Grand Tour as leader" – which he confirmed to be a "goal."
Asking whether Jorgenson can win a Grand Tour is the wrong question, at least right now. The real question is where those ambitions fit into the bigger picture at Visma. At first glance, it might seem like a tough sell to find space for Jorgenson to spread his own wings within this roster, but his Paris-Nice win comes at a time when things might be opening up a bit for the team that swept all three Grand Tours in 2023.
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