Matteo Jorgenson follows Nairo Quintana in hot start to 2022
Movistar prospect builds on breakout season to follow the wheels of the big hitters on Tour de la Provence mountaintop.
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Matteo Jorgenson is off to a hot start to 2022 racing season.
The 22-year-old Movistar rider blitzed to third in the “queen stage” Sunday at the Tour de la Provence, and missed the podium by just two seconds in his 2022 stage-race debut.
The solid showing is yet another confirmation that the American, starting his third season with Movistar, keeps moving in the right direction.
“I feel like I definitely improved,” Jorgenson said. “2021 was my first ‘complete’ season as a cyclist. Many European guys have the chance to race 50-60 days a year when they’re 15-16 years old, while my 2021 season was the very first one with 60-65 racing days.
“It did a lot for my body,” he told CyclingProNet. “This winter, since I went on the off-season, it felt a lot, lot better for me. I just hope I can keep improving.”
Also read: ‘Paris-Nice is a goal for me’
Jorgenson surged into the fray Sunday at the Montagne de Lure, following the wheels of Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) and Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) on the key stage.
🤏 It was THIS close to a GC podium for @MatteoJorg at 🇫🇷 La Provence (#TDLP22)!
Ⓜ️💪 So proud of the American’s efforts all week and especially with his 3rd place up La Montagne de Lure. A great team up to the foot of the climb, too!
🗣️💬 His reaction + upcoming goals ↓
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) February 13, 2022
Jorgenson, who continues to impress across many different types of terrain, marked the lithe climbers. Quintana eventually darted away for the win and the overall victory, but Jorgenson was even with the promising Danish climber Skjelmose.
“It was a hard climb where I tried to stay within my own limits,” Jorgenson said. “At the end, I was just following Trek, who had some teammates around Skjelmose, who was running ahead of me in the GC, so it was about watching him and staying with him.
“At the end, I was just basically on my limit; they were doing my ‘perfect pace’, thankfully,” he said. “So, at the sprint, I was just giving it my all, and he was better, so … good day.
“I’m quite happy. I didn’t expect to do something like that. I’m a pretty big guy, so I feel I did pretty well with that performance.”
The third-year-pro American is expected to return to the Giro d’Italia later this season. Up next? Paris-Nice, where he popped for eighth overall in 2021.
“Paris-Nice should be next for me, and I’ve got three weeks to prepare well for that,” he said in a team release.