Matteo Jorgenson was one of the breakthrough riders of the spring in the pro peloton and now the young American Movistar Team rider has put in a ride for the ages on stage 9 of the Tour de France, leading the way on the legendary Puy de Dôme until 500m to go.
He was caught by Michael Woods (Israel Premier Tech) with just 500m to go - after being solo out front for 48km - and had to settle for 4th place, as two others also caught and passed him just before the line. However, Jorgenson was the hero of the day for many people.
Woods won today by 28 seconds from Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) with Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) 3rd at 35 seconds and then Jorgenson 4th, also at 35 seconds.
Earlier this season the American explained how he has improved so much since just last year - and clearly he has really thrown himself - and his money - into an all-out effort to reach the top of pro cycling.
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The 24-year-old, who finished 2nd in Tour de Romandie in April, explained the road to his success this year was paved with deep fatigue. This included being so exhausted after his debut ride in the Tour de France last year that it took him until December before he felt he had recovered.
Jorgenson sets out how he has spent all of his salary so far this year on ways to improve as a rider, from one-man training camps with lots of motor-pacing - and stints at an altitude hotel - to buying some of his own equipment, including tailored TT bars.
He has also weighed all of his food and credits his coach, Movistar's Patxi Vila, with devising a programme for him that has enabled him to balance "racing and recovery" and push his body "towards explosivity for some races and then back to efficiency for others" in a manner he had never experienced before.
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Since the season began, Jorgenson has won a stage and the overall at Tour of Oman, placed 8th overall at Paris Nice and finished 4th and 9th at E3 Saxo Classic and the Tour of Flanders respectively. He was then runner-up to Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) at Tour de Romandie and now has done an epic ride on the Tour, taking 4th on a hugely prestigious stage today.
"First off these things don’t happen overnight. Not even in a year," he said. "The biggest thing I learned years ago from Nate King was that as long as you maintain consistency and get the simple things right, every ride or race, no matter how well or badly perceived at the time, will push the body forward."
King is a renowned cycling coach based in Boulder, Colorado, and is the performance manager at World Tour team EF Education-EasyPost.
Jorgenson continued: "Perhaps the most important thing I’ve done in the last four years is gone really deep, sometimes into deep fatigue holes, and then more importantly, rested until I was out of them. Each season I have repeated this cycle.
"In 2021 I went extremely deep in the spring period and had an absolutely horrendous Giro where I barely made it to the finish every day with the last riders. In 2022 the Tour de France served as a giant stimulus that took me until December to recover from. That Tour de France gave me confidence I was very close though.
"So for 2023 I made big goals. They were especially challenging because I wanted to try and flip back and forth between GC to classics and back again. I can say now that I’ve spent every penny of my salary so far this year on my own performance. Between solo camps, TT material, nutrition, massage, and motor pacing; it all made me better and compounded on itself.
"In January I spent almost the entire month alone in an altitude hotel. I bought custom TT extensions with the help and testing of (former pro cyclist) Ivan Velasco. I hired a nutritionist and have weighed and logged every gram of food I’ve eaten since December to make sure I’m always at race weight and adequately fueled."
