VARESE — Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarché) claimed the first victory of his hugely promising young career on Tuesday at the Tre Valli Varesine, getting the better of Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) in a three-up sprint after 4:34:26 of racing on a punchy circuit-based course.
The 20-year-old Belgian, who turned professional at the start of the year after a string of big results on the U23 scene, pulled off something of a shock as the fastest proven finisher was beaten. Pidcock had created the winning move with an attack on the penultimate climb and was considered the favourite for the sprint, but Widar jumped from the back of the trio with well over 200 metres to go, opened a huge gap and continued to put the power down all the way to the line as Pidcock sat up.
Widar was credited with a one-second gap over Pidcock, who had to settle for another second place after his runner-up finish at the Giro dell’Emilia, with Jorgenson trailing him across the line for third. Only a couple of seconds behind, Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) led home a vastly-reduced peloton of around 20 riders.
Marc Hirschi (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team), Ludovico Crescioli (Team Polti VisitMalta) and Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) all finished on the same time as Simmons to complete the top nine, with Simone Gualdi (Lotto-Intermarché) a further three seconds back in tenth.