In the sixth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico, the Dutch team immediately positioned itself at the front of the peloton. Timo Kielich was part of the breakaway group, where the Belgian held his ground well on the tough course.

The breakaway eventually had no chance of success, after which Kielich remained a valuable support for Jorgenson in the thinned-out peloton. On the penultimate climb, Tim Rex and Wout van Aert took the lead, further reducing the group of favourites.

On the final climb of the Italian “punisher,” Jorgenson showed his strength by keeping pace with the best riders. In the grueling last kilometre, the American launched an attack, but third place proved to be the best achievable result.

“It went pretty well today,” Jorgenson said after the stage. “We started the day with the ambition of aiming for the overall classification. I thought it was smartest to attack on the final climb, especially with the strong headwind in the last ten kilometer. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the legs I had yesterday, but Isaac was simply the strongest. I’m grateful for the team’s support and happy to finish on the podium.”

Van Aert also looked back on the day positively. “I felt good today. The goal was to isolate Del Toro and eventually try for the overall win. The final climb turned out to be too tough, turning it into a real man-to-man battle. I tried to gain a gap to support Matteo in the last kilometre, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out.”

Race coach Jesper Mørkøv echoed that sentiment, looking back positively on the day: “We rode very well as a team today. We were well-positioned throughout the day, and with Timo in the early break, we had an extra card to play later in the race. On the final short climbs, we made the race hard, but ultimately it came down to a battle among the favourites on the last climb. Matteo was very strong, but Del Toro proved even stronger.”