Matteo Jorgenson Finishes Ninth At His First Olympics, Two Weeks After Racing The Tour De France

PARIS — For most people, a top-10 finish at their first Olympics would be a great accomplishment. But U.S. cyclist Matteo Jorgenson couldn’t hide his disappointment with ninth after having a bronze medal within sight with around 30K to go in the men’s road race.

“I am disappointed not to medal,” Jorgenson said. “I think I had the legs and the form to medal, but in the end, I got outplayed tactically. I put myself in a position to win the race and I am happy with that. I played my cards as best I could.”

His time of 6:20.50 was 1 minute and 16 seconds behind the first-place finisher, Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel. The host city claimed the final two podium spots with Valentin Madouas taking silver for France with a time of 6:20.45 and Christophe Laporte leading a small group sprint for the bronze.

Exactly two weeks prior, the 25-year-old finished the Tour de France in eighth place — just five days before the Opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Earlier in the year he became the third U.S. cyclist to win the Paris-Nice stage race.

On Saturday morning, with 90 riders from around the world racing through the streets of Paris, the Trocadero — serving as the start and finish line — was a hub of excitement and drama.

After five riders sat ahead of the peloton for the first chunk of the race, things started to heat up around the 80K mark when Italy’s Elia Viviani and Ireland’s Ryan Mullen overtook the peloton to take the lead. But it wasn’t long before Belgium’s Evenepoel was on the attack, reducing the peloton and leading a seven-man chase group, which included the U.S.’ frontrunner.

“I was just trying to keep myself in contention for a medal and trying to keep the groups behind from coming back,” Jorgenson said.

Evenepoel eventually pulled away, looking as if he was in the clear with a comfortable lead — taking what would be his second road gold at these Paris Games.

With the final line in sight and less than four kilometers to go, the leader urgently raised his arm and jumped off his bike, which had a flat tire. His more than 60-second lead was down by 20 after having to change bikes. Despite that, he was still able to make it across the line unchallenged and ended with the gold.

France’s Madouas was next around the corner, with the Eiffel Tower quickly behind his back. His teammate, Laporte was sitting amongst the pack behind when Madouas crossed and was making it difficult for anyone wanting to advance on his fellow countryman.

“We had Christophe Laporte sitting, basically not working with us because he had a teammate up the road, Madouas. So, this kind of ruined our group dynamic and guys didn’t want to work as hard because they knew they were going to get beat by Christophe in the sprint. So, there was nothing more I could do.”

Fighting for the third-place medal until the tires crossed, Jorgenson ultimately ended last amongst the group of seven.

“I tried my best to medal and it just didn’t happen,” he shared, reflecting on the hurt of coming up short.

His teammate, Brandon McNulty finished 24th with a time of 6:21.54. The two-time Olympian came close at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, finishing sixth in the road race and 24th in the individual time trial.

First-time U.S. Olympian, Magnus Sheffield finished 42nd and a time of 6:26.57.

Lisa Costantini has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than a decade, including for the International Olympic Committee. She is a freelance writer who has contributed to TeamUSA.com since 2011.