Sick, Sore and Dropped: Matteo Jorgenson’s Nightmare Day on the Tour

You could forgive Matteo Jorgenson for feeling sorry for himself midway through stage 11 of the Tour de France, run off at record speed in 90-degree heat. Hardly what he needed after the day from hell he had already endured.

America’s Visma-Lease a Bike star was racing with bandages on his elbow and knee after crashing on stage 10 Tuesday. While chasing the group of favorites down the Puy Mary, the Idahoan hit the deck, touching his brake and slipping on the same corner where Tom Pidcock and Chris Harper fell on white roads sprayed white as a safety measure. Jorgenson rode to the finish at Le Lioran with a bloody left arm and knee.

That afternoon, illness compounded his injury. Jorgenson was subsequently driven to the start of stage 11 in Vichy in a team car, rather than riding on the team bus, as a health precaution and signed on wearing a face mask.

Sports director Marc Reef explained to Velo after the race: “Yesterday, Matteo said after the finish that he was feeling a bit sick. And then we took the precautions to have him out of the group and to travel to the race outside the group, and also to now travel outside the group again. I don’t know how long this will take, it’s something to see what happens.” Reef did not reveal the nature of Jorgenson’s sickness when asked.

A new low for Jorgenson as a pro

The 27-year-old tried to stay in the wheels on the road to Nevers, dropping off the back of the bunch in the race’s final kilometers. He crossed the line 164th of the race’s 174 remaining riders, 2 minutes 12 seconds behind stage winner Søren Wærenskjold – his lowest placing in a professional bike race.

His shorts were streaked with dried salt from sweat as he walked up the stairs of the Visma-Lease a Bike bus, with a large plaster over his elbow.

The team did not accept Velo‘s request to interview Jorgenson after stage 11, due to his illness and need to recover and be kept separated.

“He just needed to get through, save his energy, eat and drink as much as he could,” Reef said. “It’s still a flat day in the bunch, I think it was still reasonable.”

Although Jorgenson appeared in the Tour’s medical report after stage 10 Tuesday, he has suffered worse injuries in 2026, such as the fractured collarbone which set back his season in April’s Amstel Gold Race.

“He had some road rash but that’s also it,” Reef said. “Of course the combination of both the sickness and this is not really helpful in the second week of a grand tour. But at the same moment, things will recover and he will be fine again.”

Reef: Vingegaard will grow into the Tour

They will look for him to be back to full health and offer support to leader Jonas Vingegaard when the Tour hits the Alps.

Jorgenson explained to Velo last week why he’s not chasing a high overall result or going as Visma’s Plan B, despite finishing eighth overall in 2024.

“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,” he said.

Vingegaard has been riding to and from stage sign-on every morning with a white face mask on. Considering Jorgenson’s illness and the Dane’s unexpected 18-second time loss to Remco Evenepoel on Le Lioran, it may lead to questions about whether the two-time Tour winner is sick. For now, there are no signs of doubts from his team management after that result.

“We have confidence in Jonas so far. Besides the Tourmalet, the climbs were relatively short,” Reef said. “The longer climbs are coming, normally he grows into a race. So we are confident that will also be the case now.”