Matteo Jorgenson, the young American sealed his first-ever overall success with an intelligently-timed, spectacular ascent to Green Mountain, finishing 2nd to Vansevenant (SOQ) to confirm his success by just 1″.
With a nail-biting finish and after a day destined to be unpredictable, one which its main protagonists had almost never tackled, Matteo Jorgenson and the Movistar Team sealed on Wednesday the Blues’ second overall success of 2023. The 2023 Tour of Oman now belongs in the palmarès of the Abarca Sports organization after the Boise, Idaho native kept all of his rivals under control over the brutal, 6km ascent of the Green Mountain.
Supported all day by Norsgaard, Erviti, Kanter -pulling from the very start-, Sosa, Abner González (formerly of the SoCalCycling.com Team)-covering him all the way to the climb- and Carlos Verona, who also got himself into the overall top-ten (10th), Jorgenson rode very intelligently and always remained next to his main rivals for the GC, Geoffrey Bouchard (ACT, 3rd) and Mauri Vansevenant (SOQ, 1st). The Belgian really made the American ride to his best, taking the sprint and gaining a 4″ second bonus on Matteo, 2nd, which, considering no time gaps were between them at the finish, meant the overall victory came down to just one second.
The Movistar Team’s sixth victory of 2023 -the fifth for the men- brings with it a significant milestone for the Blues: never in their 44 years of history had they obtained five wins with the men’s squad on just February 15th. Further proof of the sweet moment, with the hard work behind, the Spanish outfit is going through at the moment
Matteo Jorgenson said,
“It was super hard. I mean: the day was relatively easy, but the heat was the main issue for me. I might have looked confident this morning, but I was actually pretty nervous. This kind of climb really tests my limits. 6k at 12% – it’s hard for me. I rode always making sure I stayed efficient on the climb. I did everything as efficiently as possible to take this one. You have no idea how special this is for me. Super, super special. Two days ago, I got my first professional win, and now, to get the GC like this, with the list of previous winners in Oman, is crazy. We did it!”
Tour of Oman Video Highlights
Photos – Getty Sport / Movistar Team
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