Matteo Jorgenson Wants Just One Thing on Tour de France Rest Day: Air Conditioning

Matteo Jorgenson already knows exactly how he’ll spend the Tour de France rest day.

“I will not even touch the bike tomorrow,” he told Velo. “I will just stay inside and get some AC.”

After nine heat-ravaged stages working for Jonas Vingegaard, the Idahoan has earned a break.

“The first week was for real. The heat was difficult for everyone and on the Tourmalet we lost some time,” Jorgenson told Velo.

Visma-Lease a Bike reaches the first rest day with mixed emotions.

The 2026 Tour started with the high of winning the team time trial in Barcelona and Vingegaard donning the yellow jersey.

Then Tadej Pogačar delivered another drubbing in the Pyrénées on stage 6, and the Dane is now 2:42 back at nearly the midway point of the race.

“I think we’re looking forward to a reset and looking forward to the Alps,” he said.

On Sunday, Jorgenson was active early in the brutal stage to try to ride into the breakaway, but eventually settled into the main group in the heat-shortened scorcher stage 9.

“We had a defensive day. We were trying to make sure Jonas was safe,” Jorgenson said. “We knew it would be chaotic with so much heat and such a short stage.”

Playing defensive in extreme heat

For Jorgenson, it’s another day of putting the team first.

“I was trying to get into the break to be there in case something happened behind, but it seemed like teams were wanting to control,” Jorgenson said. “It worked out well. We didn’t have any bonus seconds for grabs and Jonas was there.”

It’s another mission accomplished for Jorgenson, 27, who gave up any personal ambitions early on.

There might be a chance to chase a stage win later in the race, but he’s no longer the team’s No. 2 GC option.

This week, he explained why he’s not chasing a high overall result in his fifth Tour start despite finishing 2024 in eighth overall.

“It really hasn’t worked out in other years,” he said on stage 5. “I am not going to win the Tour when Jonas and Pogačar are here, so it is much better for me to take it easy in the finales and be 100 percent focused on Jonas.”

For Sunday, he cooled down at the line after a long hot hard day in the saddle, chugging recovery drinks and pouring water over his head.

He was happy the stage was shortened by 30km with temperatures soaring above 100 Fahrenheit in a red-alert heat wave.

“It was so hot. I am not going to applaud the UCI, because it was the government that said we couldn’t go through this region in this heat,” he told Velo. “That was the situation.”

That AC is going to feel good. The Tour resumes Tuesday.