For a while, it looked like Matteo Jorgenson would deliver a second Tour de France stage win for Visma-Lease a Bike as he soloed away from the day’s breakaway on the final climb to Isola 2000.
However, with 9.5km to go, race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) attacked and closed down a three-minute gap inside the final kilometre, passing the American and going on to win the stage.
Jorgenson finished second on the stage, 21 seconds behind the maillot jaune, holding off Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).
It was heartbreak for Jorgenson, who had spent the day in the escape along with teammate Wilco Kelderman, in search of a stage win on his training grounds, but even more so for Visma-Lease a Bike leader Jonas Vingegaard, who was visibly upset after finishing 1:41 behind Pogačar together with third-placed Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep).
“You gave everything, that’s all that matters,” Jorgenson told a visibly upset Vingegaard.
Missing the stage win wasn’t the end of the world for Jorgenson, who moved back into the top 10 overall, climbing into 9th ahead of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).
More to come…