Jorgenson laughs, pauses, then admits: "It’s a relief Pogacar isn’t racing here, I’ll enjoy that"

Earlier this year, Jorgenson extended his contract with Visma | Lease a Bike until the end of 2029, with the announcement that the climber would be going all out for the GC. During his years with Movistar, he rode the Giro d'Italia once and the Tour twice, but always as an attacker. Since joining Visma in 2024, he has been allowed to reinvent himself as a backup leader. In his debut year, he immediately won Paris-Nice and finished eighth in the Tour. He also won Paris-Nice again this year.

In 2025, however, both parties are taking it a step further by doing a second Grand Tour for the first time after the Tour, in the form of the Vuelta. Jorgenson believes he is ready for a second grueling three-week tour. “The preparation for the Tour de France is very intense, with several months of training. For the Vuelta, it's very different. I've relied on my Tour preparation being sufficient. I've mainly made sure that my brain and spirit are back at the level I want them to be.”

“That's why I was very interested in riding the Vuelta, because I knew it would be easier than if I had taken a break and had to work my way back up again for smaller races,” continued Jorgenson, who has already won stages and the overall classification in the Tour of Oman in 2023 and triumphed in Dwars door Vlaanderen in 2024. However, the double Tour-Vuelta is something else, a matter of balance. “I took a few days off and started training again. I did a few three-day blocks and that was it.”

Given that Vingegaard had the same run-up to the Vuelta, it is reasonable to ask whether Jorgenson has been working closely with his team leader in recent weeks. The answer was no. Was there any contact about how to approach things? Again, he shook his head. "Jonas and I do have the same coach, and we will have had a fairly similar preparation, the same block after the Tour de France. We almost always do the same training, except he pedals harder, haha!'

Nevertheless, Jorgenson hopes to play a significant role even with slightly less power. Will he ride solely in support of Vingegaard? The American replied: 'I really have to see how it goes, I have no idea how my body will react. Racing for the GC is one of my goals these days, and the team knows that and supports me in that. So this Vuelta could be a good opportunity, but we'll have to see how good I am and how the race unfolds."

After a Tour packed with battles on and off the bike with Pogacar, Visma | Lease a Bike will be glad that the tired Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates-XRG has pulled out of the Vuelta, right? “Um, is it a relief... Yes, actually, yes,” Jorgenson smiled. “The race will be very different without him, because every rider will ride differently now that he's not there. When Pogacar is in the race, he forces others to ride differently, whether you're going for stage wins or the GC. I'm looking forward to it. It's not often I get the chance to race without him. I'm going to enjoy it.”

Bram van der Ploeg ( Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])