For some time, it appeared like Matteo Jorgenson would ship a second Tour de France stage win for Visma-Lease a Bike as he soloed away from the day’s breakaway on the ultimate climb to Isola 2000.
However, with 9.5km to go, race chief Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) attacked and closed down a three-minute hole inside the ultimate kilometre, passing the American and occurring to win the stage.
Jorgenson completed second on the stage, 21 seconds behind the maillot jaune, holding off Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).
It was heartbreak for Jorgenson, who had spent the day within the escape together with teammate Wilco Kelderman, searching for a stage win on his coaching grounds, however much more so for Visma-Lease a Bike chief Jonas Vingegaard, who was visibly upset after ending 1:41 behind Pogačar along with third-placed Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep).
“You gave every little thing, that is all that issues,” Jorgenson informed a visibly upset Vingegaard.
Missing the stage win wasn’t the top of the world for Jorgenson, who moved again into the highest 10 general, climbing into ninth forward of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).
More to come back…
