Jarno Widar (Lotto Dstny) made cycling history on Sunday by becoming the first Belgian to win the general classification of the Giro Next Gen, the Tour of Italy for Espoirs (riders under 23). During the last stage this Sunday, the 18-year-old Limburger successfully defended his pink jersey.
In this hilly 137 kilometer stage between Cesena and Forlimpopoli, the stage victory went to the Briton Matthew Brennan (Visma – Lease a Bike), who won the sprint within a group of breakaways. Widar finished in the small pack, raising his hands as he crossed the finish line. In the final general classification, he is 52 seconds ahead of the Spaniard Pablo Torres and 58 seconds ahead of another Spaniard, Pau Marti.
A first-year prospect, Widar laid the foundation for his final victory last week by winning two mountain stages. As winner of the “Baby Giro”, he follows in the footsteps of famous predecessors such as the Spaniard Juan Ayuso, the Briton Tom Pidcock, the Russian Aleksandr Vlasov and Italians like Marco Pantani, Gilberto Simoni, Danilo Di Luca and Francesco Moser . Last year, the overall victory went to Norwegian Johannes Staune-Mittet.
The pink jersey Jarno Widar established himself as boss on the Tour of Italy for hopefuls: “I had confidence for the stage victory”
Widar has been considered a top talent since juniors. In this category, he notably won the Classic of the Alps, the Tour of Flanders and the Belgian Championship, and he also achieved the best time on the Côte de la Redoute on the popular Strava training platform. Last month he also won the Alpes Isère Tour, a French UCI 2.2 stage race.
Jarno Widar is linked to Lotto Dstny until the end of 2027.
