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Follow us on GoogleVisma | Lease a Bike Thursday versus Visma | Lease a Bike Friday, it was a world of difference. Team leader Jonas Vingegaard went from a rough day to "maybe my best performance ever," and his climbing domestique riders Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss also showed improvement in the climbing time trial to the top of Peyragudes after a tough first day in the Pyrenees.
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Jorgenson spent the entire first week of the Tour de France as second leader, but the 26-year-old American lost 10 minutes and 25 seconds in stage 12 on Thursday. “On the last climb, I was completely exhausted. That's when I thought it was better to give up on the GC. I couldn't be of any use to Jonas anymore,” he said in his analysis. Nevertheless, Jorgenson went all out on day 13 in the climbing time trial and finished sixth. And so he is still tenth in the GC.
He is well over two minutes behind winner Tadej Pogacar, but Jorgenson immediately acknowledged to Eurosport, among others, that he had a much better day. Without any recon, he powered through on his road bike. “I wanted to test myself and get back in the fight. I was disappointed yesterday; it felt like I had given up in a way. I just had a bad day and wanted to prove to myself today that I could do it and still have good legs. Now I've finished where I belong, it was a good test.”
Read more below the photo.
Jorgenson exhausted for first Pyrenees stage
Jorgenson is aware that he can no longer compete for the podium in the shadow of Vingegaard and thus play a role in the game against Pogacar. “I think I just didn't recover well yesterday, I woke up feeling completely exhausted. I wasn't at my level from the start of the stage and had to fight against the clock all day. Sometimes you can't explain the human body. I'm not a robot. Today I was back, and I'm proud of that.”
“Cycling puts everything in its place, there are no secrets,” said Jorgenson. “This sport humiliates you every time you think you've figured it out.” That also applied to Kuss, who went all out in the time trial and finished 21st. The American also sounded confident. “We hope we feel better in the coming days so we can try something. Four minutes is a big gap (to Pogacar, ed.), so on paper it's over. But in cycling, anything can happen.”
Kuss pointed to Pogacar's crash in stage 11. It's not necessarily how Visma | Lease a Bike wants to win the Tour, but Kuss and co. are going to go all out until Paris. “The toughest stages are still to come; we have to focus on what we can control and seize opportunities when they arise.”
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Bram van der PloegEditor-in-chief
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
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