Jorgenson all in for victory at Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes return: “Ready to race”

There is no Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes, as he is taking rest after the Giro d’Italia on the road to the Tour de France. Visma | Lease a Bike therefore needs a different team leader at the start. Fortunately for the Dutch team, Matteo Jorgenson is back. The American makes his return with high ambitions after a heavy crash in the Amstel Gold Race.

In the Limburg classic, Jorgenson was in the promising breakaway when he crashed hard on a descent. He broke his collarbone. “I’m really looking forward to racing again,” he says after almost two months away on his team’s website. “This season I deliberately raced a more limited programme, and my collarbone fracture meant even more races were taken away. That is why I am especially happy to be back at the start this weekend.”

“The past three weeks I have done an excellent training camp in Sierra Nevada together with my team-mates. During my recovery I received a lot of support from the team. I feel completely fit again and I am ready to race.” For Jorgenson, the Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes, formerly the Critérium du Dauphiné, has traditionally offered opportunities: in 2024 he lost by just eight seconds to winner Primož Roglič.

Despite his lack of racing rhythm, the idea is clear again this year. “My idea has not changed: I want to win. All season, my goal was to win a race. In the end I only lost two weeks of training because of my injury. Of course it set me back a little, but after that I was able to train very well and now I feel completely ready for competition.”

Sporting director Maarten Wynants also sees enough chances for his team in France. “It will undoubtedly be a tough edition of the Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes, especially considering the quality of the field,” said the Belgian former pro. “We also have a strong selection and will do everything we can to achieve the best possible result.”

Visma | Lease a Bike’s line-up is certainly extremely strong: alongside Jorgenson, the team can also rely on Ben Tulett and Jørgen Nordhagen in the high mountains, while Bruno Armirail, Edoardo Affini and Per Strand Hagenes will do the work. But with Wout van Aert the Dutch squad also has another leader in its ranks, who can go for stage success.

In short: plenty of chances for Visma | Lease a Bike, even without Vingegaard. “For our two leaders, it will be their first race after a period without competition. Matteo returns from injury and has worked hard to get back to full fitness. Wout is riding his first race since his victory in Paris-Roubaix, which gives him extra motivation to be there straight away.”