"Finally," Matteo Jorgenson half shouted to himself and to the world a few meters from the finish line of stage 3 of the Tour of Oman, finally ending his three-year quest for a first win.

Jorgenson, who was in fourth place after the uphill finish of the previous stage, showed his strength at a crucial moment on the Jabalhat climb, jumping out of the pack with 200 meters to go.

The narrow advantage on the summit, coupled with a time bonus, put the 23-year-old from Idaho in the lead. But most important of all, at least in the short term, was the elusive victory.

"I was starting to think this win wasn't coming," Jorgenson told a small group of reporters after the race, in between hugs and congratulations from his teammates. [To be honest, I have a lot going on in my head and I think maybe I don't have enough talent. I'm really happy to have won today, and it was really nice to win by a little bit. It feels fantastic."

Despite the baking temperatures on the Omani mountainsides, Jorgensen kept his cool on the climbs and small descents with multiple changes in gradient, biding his time before making a testing move on the final steep slope with less than 1km to go.

"I wanted to try it on the steep sections. I knew there wouldn't be any drafts and I could see how everyone was doing.

"Everyone responded, but not right away. So I thought, 'Okay, I think I have a chance at a sprint.

"Thankfully (former two-time overall champion) Alexey Lutsenko had a teammate to keep the speed up. Well, I might have looked back at least once, but I could hardly see him.

Movistar gave him full confidence to lead the race, he told reporters earlier in the day.

"This team has honestly been trying to convince me to win races since the first year I joined," he said.

"It was a process of convincing myself, doing the races, and learning to believe in it. So today, my dream finally came true."

Speaking to Cycling News before the start of the race, Jorgenson, 23, said he was in the process of confirming his upper limits in several different disciplines.

And while Oman is definitely a step in the right direction in the week-long stage race, he will return to the cobbled classic this year for the first time since 2020.

His 120km breakaway in his first Paris-Roubaix entry two years ago suggests there is still room for progress in this field.

"Definitely another area for me to explore," Jorgensen told Cycling News. 'I ran Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuhne back in my neo-pro days. I don't really want to be in Belgium, but I like racing.

"I asked the team if I could run the opening race and Flanders. No pressure, I just want to enjoy the hard racing."

"I'm not really looking forward to it, I just want to race hard.

Jorgensen, who finished eighth overall in Paris-Nice in 2021 and third in several stages in past competitions, has higher goals in Paris-Nice.

"It's a goal I've had for a few years, it's a race I really love and it fits me very well as a rider.

"There are limited summit finishes, a week long race, a lot of mixed stages with crosswinds and intermediate mountain stages where a lot can happen. I think I can be in the top group.

"It's a race I've always wanted to win, and as a kid I used to watch Paris-Nice in the US. So it's a race that inspires me and I can't wait."

Paris-Nice demands a wide range of talent from its athletes. In his words, "My shape is in the middle of a lot of things, so in the end it's hard to identify myself."

But as a general rule, even in 2023, this American intends to push himself in different directions and see which one works best.

"At my age, I think every year I get a little bit better, and every offseason I step up. Every year I figure out a little bit more about how to prepare and how to be a pro.

"Then I went to training camps on my own, went to the high country, and did a good job this winter. That's the way modern cycling works, and if you want to perform, you have to give up the rest of your life.

"I need to take steps this year. 'So far I have only shown promise, which is not enough in cycling, and I need to take a step from promising to winning. I've done everything I can in training and now I just need to put it into action.

And a few hours later, he proved that he was fully capable of doing so.