Movistar’s Matteo Jorgenson took his first-ever GC win at the 2023 Tour of Oman. The final ascent of Green Mountain saw a battle between Jorgenson and Soudal Quick-Step’s Mauri Vansevenant, the American’s rival in the GC. With just 5 seconds between the riders at the start of the day, any time gaps were going to be crucial and the Movistar rider did well to finish on the same time as the Belgian. With bonus seconds added at the finish line, the gap closed to just 1 second in the general classification. Only 8 riders finished within one minute of Vansevenant.
The final 6km were all uphill and with the early pacing set by the Intermarché-Circus-Wanty team for the first half. Movistar kept their rider protected, with Carlos Verona also finishing in the top-10 of GC, but the real contenders were left isolated by the pace. Gregory Bouchard finished 3rd and was only dropped within the final 1km as the battle for the stage commenced. For Movistar, the GC was the 6th win of the season already by mid-February. Ruben Guerreiro’s win at the Saudi Tour recently was also memorable.
“It was super hard. I mean: the day was relatively easy, bu thte 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 efficient 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!”
Matteo Jorgenson
