Matteo Jorgenson, the American rider of Visma-Lease a bike (formerly Jumbo-Visma) won the 82nd edition of Paris-Nice this Sunday.
He is the first rider from the United States since Floyd Landis winner in 2006 and deposed winner of the Tour a few months later to win on the Promenade des Anglais.
The race to the sun ended with a final day in the rain and in the cold, a bit like the last few days.
This Paris-Nice was trying until the end.
This Sunday, the route in the Nice hinterland and the dismal weather reminded some of the first stage of the Tour de France 2020, the one under the Covid masks in 2020.
It had rained even on the Promenade des Anglais, transformed into an ice rink, which caused a heavy fall at the finish of which Thibaut Pinot was the main victim.
Fortunately this time, the destination was as once on the seaside, the sun came back.
Two men animated the end of the week: Remco Evenepoel who passed the last big bumps in the lead and Matteo Jorgenson who took down the Russian from the Bora Aleksandr Vlasov, in the Col des Quatre-Chemins a few kilometers from the goal.
The two men arrived together in Nice and in the sprint, the Belgian easily won, Jorgenson easily consoling himself with the final victory.
🏆🇧🇪 @EvenepoelRemco wins the 8th stage, 🇺🇸 @MatteoJorg wins #ParisNice!
🏆🇧🇪 @EvenepoelRemco wins stage 8, 🇺🇸 @MatteoJorg wins #ParisNice pic.twitter.com/3UyxSGfYWI
— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 10, 2024
Aged 24, Matteo Jorgenson remains little known.
He finished the 2023 season in 35th place in the UCI rankings.
On the big tours, Jonas Vingegaard's partner has for the moment remained discreet.
His track record includes a 20th place in 2022 and a retirement at the start of the 16th stage last July.
Multilingual, very comfortable in French and Spanish after a year of training at Chambéry CF and four years in the Movistar team, Jorgenson lives in...Nice.
Next summer he could be a luxury lieutenant for the Dane.
He will be in a country of knowledge: for the first time since 1903, the Tour de France will arrive in Nice, in exactly the same place.