{"id":399916,"date":"2026-01-10T06:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/399916\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T06:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:01:07","slug":"id-like-to-try-to-do-one-as-a-leader-matteo-jorgenson-reveals-grand-tour-ambitions-with-visma-lease-a-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/399916\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I&#8217;d like to try to do one as a leader&#8217; \u2013 Matteo Jorgenson reveals Grand Tour ambitions with Visma-Lease A Bike"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"51210fd3-39c6-47f8-bf27-0b291080fe89\"><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/matteo-jorgenson\/\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/matteo-jorgenson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Matteo Jorgenson<\/a> has outlined his ambitions for 2026 and beyond, stating that he hopes to win a race on the road again this year while also aiming to lead Visma-Lease A Bike at a Grand Tour in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>The American triumphed at Paris-Nice for the second time in a row last year before going on to support <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/jonas-vingegaard\/\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/jonas-vingegaard\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> as the Dane took second in the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/tour-de-france\/\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/tour-de-france\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tour de France<\/a> and won the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"51210fd3-39c6-47f8-bf27-0b291080fe89-2\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Along the way, he took eight top-five results, including a second place on the final day of the Race to the Sun and fourth at Dwars door Vlaanderen, but he hasn&#8217;t celebrated a win on the road since taking victory at Dwars in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>You may like<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;I would really like to put my arms in the air, to win a race on the road,&#8221; Jorgenson said in an interview posted to Visma-Lease A Bike&#8217;s <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=00dyBxsksL8\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=00dyBxsksL8\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">YouTube<\/a> channel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;I would love to win a GC, but my main goal in the next year is to go back to winning a race and come across the finish line first somewhere. Whether that&#8217;s a stage of the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/tour-de-france\/\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/tour-de-france\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tour de France<\/a>, a one-day race, a stage of a week-long stage race, whatever. I really want to do that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">A stage of the Tour, where he took two fifth-place finishes last summer, is high on his mind, though Jorgenson recognised that chances to do so are rare on a team built to support Vingegaard&#8217;s GC ambitions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;Not just a Grand Tour stage, I want to win a stage of the Tour de France. That has evaded me for my whole career now, and I feel a hunger for that like no other race. I really would like to do that,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;If I&#8217;m ever given the opportunity, you just have to have stars align because on this team, we&#8217;re there for Jonas. We&#8217;ll be there to help, and you really need stars to align to where you&#8217;re healthy, he&#8217;s in a secure enough position, and there&#8217;s a stage that suits you, and you get in the breakaway. I think I have a chance of that happening, and I just have to wait for it and be patient.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Jorgenson is also eyeing a future Grand Tour leadership spot, though when and where that may come remains to be seen. Vingegaard could be taking on the Giro d&#8217;Italia-Tour de France double next season, having hinted at his ambition to complete the Grand Tour set.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Visma-Lease A Bike&#8217;s plans for the Vuelta are wide open, so does <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/grand-tour-champion-simon-yates-set-to-make-shock-early-retirement\/\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/grand-tour-champion-simon-yates-set-to-make-shock-early-retirement\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Simon Yates&#8217; shock retirement<\/a> open up a GC leadership spot on the Dutch squad? We&#8217;ll have to wait and see.<\/p>\n<p>You may like<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;Grand Tours for me are the biggest races in cycling. I really don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s possible, and that kind of weighs on my mind, but I&#8217;m told by the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/tag\/performance\/\" data-auto-tag-linker=\"true\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/tag\/performance\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">performance<\/a> team and people around me that they think it is possible and they believe in it,&#8221; Jorgenson said about the possibility of leading the team at a future Grand Tour.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So, that helps me believe. I think in the future \u2013 I don&#8217;t know if it would be this year or what \u2013 I&#8217;d like to try to do one as a leader. It might never work out, but I think it would be nice to try, and it is a dream, for sure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Whatever Jorgenson ends up doing, the 26-year-old is locked in with the team for four more seasons, having signed a contract extension last summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">From the outside, it may have seemed a natural, easy choice to make for the Californian, but Jorgenson admitted that he took some time to think before he was sure of his decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;I needed to feel sustainable in this job that I could do it at this level for four more years before I signed a piece of paper that was committing myself to doing that, and so it took me a long time to actually agree to my extension,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;It was proposed to me early in the year, and it took me months and months to feel right about it. That was just a result of thinking and seeing how I could keep doing this because I think it takes a lot of sacrifice to be a cyclist. I was very aware of that this year in how much I&#8217;m giving up in other parts of my life. I wanted to feel right with that, and it felt like a huge moment when I signed the piece of paper for me personally.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;It makes me really happy to have gone through that process in my head in working through my life. Now to have four years ahead of me and a long-term commitment with real people in the team, it feels good to know that I have trust from the team and this commitment we can share going forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matteo Jorgenson has outlined his ambitions for 2026 and beyond, stating that he hopes to win a race&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-399916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}