Jarno Widar, Pablo Torres, Pau Marti and Mathys Rondel did one of the best climbing performances in a U23 race, pushing high w/kg after a tough 4-hour stage in Giro Next Gen Stage 6.
It was the only real mountain top finish in the U23 Giro d’Italia. Fosse – Sant’Anna di Alfaedo (9 km, 8.74%). One of the race favourites, 19-year-old Visma Lease a Bike Development rider Jørgen Nordhagen did not start stage 4. Jarno Widar won the first climbing stage on Pian della Mussa (19 km, 5.6%) and was the race leader before stage 6.
Visma Lease a Bike Development rider Darren van Bekkum spent 3581 kilojoules for 4:04h with 14.23 kj/kg/h before the final climb. It was a difficult day even for World Tour standards, especially for a U23 race. Wanty – ReUz – Technord paced the start of the climb but they lacked firepower as none of the riders finished in the top 20.
Tudor U23 team with Fabian Weiss and Mathys Rondel paced for most of the climb, holding a high tempo. Despite that Colombians Mauricio Zapata (Petrolike) and William Colorado (GW Erco Shimano) attacked with 6.7 km to go, later Van Bekkum bridged to them and flew past but they all were caught thanks to Weiss. The race leader Widar was drafting Tudor U23 climbers with an open jersey throughout the climb.
After his teammate finished the job, Rondel kept pacing even until the last kilometre, reducing the group but was distanced in the last part of the climb by Widar and Spaniards Pablo Torres and Pau Marti. The last kilometre was not shown on the TV with Widar taking another massive victory at age 18. He has a contract with Lotto Dstny and their development team until 2027, but he might be heading to the World Tour level already in 2025 after such a performance.
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Jarno Widar pushed an impressive 6.29 ᵉW/Kg for 26:34 min. Pablo Torres and Pau Marti also averaged 6.29 ᵉW/Kg on the climb. Rondel lost in the end 14 seconds, but as he was pacing the GC group he also did 6.29 ᵉW/Kg. With a way easier stage but inconsistent pacing, Lennart van Eetvelt won the 2024 Jebel Hafeet stage with 6.28 ᵉW/Kg for 27:34 min. Widar at age 18 already has won Alpes Isère Tour GC and finished 2nd in Ronde de l’Isard.
Love the content for the youth riders!! Would love to see some youth women’s content and more women’s content in general if it’s available!
De laatste wedstrijd van Pablo Torres was in april. Na anderhalve maand zonder deelname is het iets om zijn hoed voor af te nemen om in een race van dit niveau te verschijnen en te doen wat hij heeft gedaan. De Lotto Jarno en hun trouwe schildknaap Millán Donie, maar ook de Spanjaard Pau Martí of de Franse Rondel zijn beter aangekomen, met een veel gepastere aanpak. Misschien moet hier bij toekomstige races rekening mee worden gehouden. Ik hoop dat Spanje de klimmer uit Madrid heeft voor de Tour de L’Avenir… we zouden nog steeds een betere, zelfs betere versie van Torres kunnen zien.