LAVAL, France (Velo) — Matteo Jorgenson is hanging in the top-6 a week into the 2025 Tour de France and everyone inside the Visma-Lease a Bike bus is bracing for the Pyrénéen clash with Tadej Pogačar.
And after Jonas Vingegaard’s punchy second-place finish on the Mûr-de-Bretagne pinned on the wheel of Pogačar, Visma is ready to fly the banner.
Jorgenson says Wednesday’s TT debacle is firmly in the rear-view mirror as the Tour edges toward the first decisive major climbs.
“Jonas is doing great. We are all happy with his performances. I think the TT was an off-day,” Jorgenson told Velo. “The whole team is doing well, Jonas is going well, and I see him confident and eager to take this on.
“I think we’re on track and can continue following the plan,” Jorgenson said. “There’s nothing really wrong.”
Also read: From the Rocky Mountains to the Tour de France, Jorgenson’s fast rise
After making it through Saturday’s sprint stage, with Wout van Aert kicking to second place, the Killer Bees have the sting back in their bite.
Jorgenson: ‘I’m feeling the best I ever have’
Jorgenson insists there is no sign of panic or dismay within the ranks despite what everyone agrees was a brutal first week across northern France.
“It’s been tough. Except for stage 3, we’ve had full stress every day,” Jorgenson said. “ It will be nice this weekend and hopefully we’ll have a few sprints, and Monday will be a full-on test before the first rest day. And then we’ll see in the Pyrénées.
Now in his fourth Tour start, Jorgenson is relishing his starring role on one of the super teams at the top of the Tour.
Matteo Jorgenson on Jonas:
A leader by example. Beautiful pedalstroke and one of the strongest people I know. Can suffer more than anyone else. A father and partner before bike rider! pic.twitter.com/6Ke8oq0A12— #TeamVingegaard (@vingeupdates) July 5, 2025
Right now, the chat of him being a future Tour de France contender is on the back burner. He’s all in to help Vingegaard take on Pogačar.
“I am feeling the best I ever have,” Jorgenson told Velo. ‘I am enjoying it also. I am trying to take it a bit calmer than other years and just enjoy the race more. I want to do my job and it’s going well so far.”
“Going well” means that Jorgenson that he’s sixth overall at 1:34 back
Niermann: ‘We are not satisfied’
With João Almeida crashing out of the GC on Friday, Vingegaard is the only rider of the “Big 4” who also has a teammate in the top-10.
So far — touch wood — Jorgenson hasn’t crashed, fallen ill, or had any other mishaps.
“You cannot ask for more. We haven’t had a crash on the team,” Jorgenson said. “I feel good and I’m not getting sick. So getting through the first week without something bad happening is really good.”
“Getting through the first week [with no crashes or illness] is something I’ve almost never achieved.” -Matteo Jorgenson
The Bee’s hope to stay healthy heading into the weekend pic.twitter.com/X8K1XACapV
— Velo (@velovelovelo__) July 11, 2025
Grischa Niermann, Visma’s sports manager, said the team is relishing the upcoming uphill shootouts, but added no one is content with second.
“No, we are not satisfied. We’d like to be in the yellow jersey or a lot closer than we are to Pogačar,” Niermann told Velo on Saturday. “We had a bad day in the time trial.
“Apart from that, the boys have been great and the boys are going well,” Niermann said. “We’d like to be much closer to Tadej than we are.”
“We are happy with how Jonas is racing on the hard road stages, and we are looking forward to the real mountains.”