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Matteo Jorgenson of Movistar Team: “Being ’close’ in cycling doesn’t really get you much”

By We Love Cycling

This time, Matt Stephens caught up with young American professional road cyclist Matteo Jorgenson from California, USA, riding for the UCI WorldTeam Movistar Team.

Jorgenson perfectly depicts how often it becomes really hard for US riders to gain a place in the European peloton. After many efforts and several journeys to the continent, Matteo ended up at the AG2R Chambéry team, the development squad of the French WorldTour team where he finally had the chance to shine – and so he did.

Building on two previous years when he caught the cycling world’s attention, in the 2023 season so far, he added to his results by being in a top 10 in both Paris-Nice and Tour of Flanders, finished second overall in the Tour of Romandie, and placed first overall in the Tour of Oman.

Matteo is an open and candid character, as Matt noted even before they spoke when he stumbled upon Matteo’s Twitter thread where he got into the nitty gritty and sweat and tears of making it in the pro cycling world – and the reactions it garnered. Therefore, openness was the main theme of this episode as they discussed Matteo’s objectives for the future, the way he trains and recovers, how the first win massively influences a rider’s confidence and determination or the fundamental importance of consistency. Furthermore, they talked about how the very much increased intensity of pro racing leads to nearly double recovery times or how a great and tuned-in coach can take a lot of the mental strain off of a rider when there is mutual trust.

Make yourself comfortable and tune in for another episode of the We Love Cycling Podcast.