Visma | Lease a Bike and Jorgenson must look over their shoulder in podium fight

Visma | Lease a Bike may, on paper, still be in a strong position to win the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, but in practice Matteo Jorgenson came up just a little short of being able to dream of yellow on Sunday. The American finished fourth in the seventh stage, which ended on the Grand Colombier. Isaac del Toro’s attack proved impossible to follow.

Jorgenson had put himself in an excellent position in the general classification during the eight-day stage race in France. Visma | Lease a Bike won the team time trial on day three, and in the stages that followed, the yellow-and-black squad was always where it needed to be. In an explosive sixth stage, Jorgenson lost time for the first time to Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Del Toro.

The Mexican rider from UAE Emirates-XRG then proved the strongest in stage 7, and because Seixas had crashed heavily during the stage, Jorgenson was able to defend his position in the standings. He gained back plenty of time on yellow jersey Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), but also saw Del Toro move to within just seven seconds of him in the general classification.

Jorgenson heads into the final stage 42 seconds behind Tuckwell, who already lost a significant amount of time on day seven. Still, Visma | Lease a Bike will also have noticed how difficult it may be to keep Del Toro behind. It is a familiar scenario: earlier this year at Tirreno-Adriatico, Jorgenson also came up just short of beating Del Toro.

Jorgenson lost 41 seconds to Del Toro in stage 7 on Saturday, while Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) also proved slightly stronger on the Grand Colombier. Jorgenson’s lead over Ayuso is 24 seconds, while the gap to Johannessen is 51 seconds heading into the final stage.

“I’m happy with my performance today,” Jorgenson said through his team’s official channels. “It was a stage that became very difficult to control early on. With Jørgen and Per out, we started with a small team, but I received strong support throughout the stage. On the final climb, I rode at my own pace and tried to get to the top as quickly as possible. I’m pleased to be second in the general classification now, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’s a stage that should suit me well.”

That means a podium place in the final general classification will be the main target for Visma | Lease a Bike and Jorgenson on Sunday. The 26-year-old climber was satisfied with his effort on Saturday.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]