North American rider Matteo Jorgenson has been one of the standout riders of the spring season, racking up wins and top placings left, right, and centre as he switched from stage racing to Classics and back again.
The 23-year-old has come on leaps and bounds to start his fourth season with Movistar, kicking off his year with an overall win at the Tour of Oman before taking on Belgium's Opening Weekend and then placing top 10 with the best young rider title at Paris-Nice.
He rounded out spring Classics season with a fourth place as best of the rest behind the 'big three' at the E3 Saxo Classic and top 10 at the Tour of Flanders, then concluded his spring with a second place at the recent Tour de Romandie.
Last year, Jorgenson became known for battling again and again for a win that seemingly wouldn't come – as demonstrated by three big days in the break and three top fives at the Tour de France.
Now, he's among the contenders in every race he starts, regardless of terrain. He took to Twitter on Tuesday to give a detailed look into how exactly he came to put up the best spring of his young career.
Jorgenson said that he had "spent every penny of my salary so far this year" on self-improvement, heading on solo training camps in addition to Movistar's own and investing in improvements in time trial equipment as well as hiring a nutritionist.
"I hired a nutritionist and have weighed and logged every gram of food I've eaten since December to make sure I'm always at race weight and adequately fuelled. It's all paid off," he wrote.
Jorgenson singled out Movistar technical manager and aero guru Ivan Velasco and team coach Patxi Vila for praise in helping him make a step to the next level.
He also made mention of former USA Cycling coach and current EF Education-EasyPost performance manager Nate Wilson, who advised him several years ago that, "as long as you maintain consistency and get the simple things right, every ride or race, no matter how well or badly perceived at the time, will push the body forward."
Jorgenson has gone from pushing himself hard through the 2021 spring season and suffering at the following Giro d'Italia, he said, to doing the same again at last year's Tour de France, a race that boosted his confidence for the new season.
Following the conclusion of Romandie, where he raced into virtual yellow on the penultimate day only to be overhauled for the win by Adam Yates, Jorgenson is already looking ahead to his next goals.
He'll take on the Tour de France this July, with a likely visit to the Critérium du Dauphiné coming in preparation for the Grand Tour. On Monday he was in the French Alps taking in a recon of the Tour's stage 16 mountain time trial from Passy to Combloux.
Scroll on to read Jorgenson's full story.
So that’s a wrap on my best spring ever🌼Ppl keep asking how I made such a big step so I thought I would put it in a little thread ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/CP2z7b93MaMay 2, 2023
So that's a wrap on my best spring ever. People keep asking how I made such a big step, so I thought I would put it in a little thread.
First off, these things don't happen overnight. Not even in a year. The biggest thing I learned years ago from Nate Wilson was that as long as you maintain consistency and get the simple things right, every ride or race, no matter how well or badly perceived at the time, will push the body forward. Perhaps the most important thing I've done in the last four years is gone really deep, sometimes into deep fatigue holes, and then, more importantly, rested until I was out of them.
Each season I have repeated this cycle. In 2021 I went extremely deep in the spring period and had an absolutely horrendous Giro where I barely made it to the finish every day with the last riders. In 2022, the Tour de France served as a giant stimulus that took me until December to recover from.
That Tour de France gave me confidence I was very close, though. So, for 2023, I made big goals. They were especially challenging because I wanted to try and flip back and forth between GC to Classics and back again.
I can say now that I've spent every penny of my salary so far this year on my own performance. Between solo camps, time trial material, nutrition, massage, and motorpacing; it all made me better and compounded on itself.
In January I spent almost the entire month alone in an altitude hotel. I bought custom time trial extensions with the help and testing of Ivan Velasco. I hired a nutritionist and have weighed and logged every gram of food I've eaten since December to make sure I'm always at race weight and adequately fuelled.
It's all paid off.
A special thanks to my coach Patxi Vila. He [toed] the line between racing and recovery in a way I've never experienced before. His ability to push my body towards explosivity for some races and then back to efficiency for others was truly impressive. Plus dealing with my constant voice messages and data obsession was a feat of its own.
And last but far from least, my amazing Movistar team. Every rider who sacrificed their own results to sit in the wind for me, you are my boys. I can't tag you all but you know who you are.
Now time to rest and reflect for a few days before I do it all again this summer.
