Boise native Matteo Jorgenson found himself in a peloton competing for a medal at the Olympics on Saturday, but ultimately came up short, finishing ninth at the men’s cycling road race in Paris.
Jorgenson was in a seven-man chase going for the bronze medal as the group made the final turn towards the finish line of the 273-kilometer race, but was unable to come away with a medal in his first Olympic competition. France’s Christophe Laporte took bronze to give the host nation two medals in the event with Valentin Madouas winning silver, five seconds in front of the chase group.
Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel won gold, with a time of 6 hours, 19 minutes, 34 seconds, more than a minute ahead of Madouas, to become the first man to win both the road race and the time trials in the same Olympic games.
“I had a really good fight,” Jorgenson told USA Cycling. “I put myself into position to win the race, but in the end, I got tactically outplayed. There were teams like France, Belgium, and the Netherlands with more numbers. I was in the right moves, but I think none of us worked well together. In the end, I used up a lot of energy in places where it was not necessary then I got attacked at the top.”