{"id":477042,"date":"2026-02-13T09:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T09:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/477042\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T09:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T09:39:11","slug":"the-future-grand-tour-man-jarno-widar-would-rather-take-on-pogacar-and-the-rest-somewhere-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/477042\/","title":{"rendered":"The future Grand Tour man? Jarno Widar would rather take on Pogacar and the rest somewhere else"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Lotto\u2013Intermarch\u00e9, they are not hiding it: 2026 is a \u201ctransition <\/a>year\u201d after the merger between Lotto and Intermarch\u00e9\u2013Wanty. There will inevitably be some teething problems, but results are still expected. Jarno Widar<\/a> fits perfectly into that picture. The 20-year-old Belgian is making the long-awaited step up from the U23 ranks to the elite level \u2014 and it will be a major voyage of discovery.<\/p>\n

Widar has been crowned U23 Rider of the Year in Belgium two years in a row, which shows the potential that is seen in the climber at home. Since he moved in 2024 from his club team Crabb\u00e9 Toitures\u2013CC Chevigny Junior to Lotto\u2019s development set-up, expectations have been high.<\/p>\n

In the junior ranks, Widar was able to beat almost everyone \u2014 and he carried that momentum straight into the biggest U23 races once he joined Lotto. In 2024 he won major stage races such as the Alpes Is\u00e8re Tour, Giro Next Gen and the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d\u2019Aosta. In 2025 he added, among other results, Li\u00e8ge\u2013Bastogne\u2013Li\u00e8ge (U23), the Ronde de l\u2019Isard, and the U23 European road title to his palmar\u00e8s.<\/p>\n

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\"jarno<\/p>\n

Jarno Widar<\/p>\n

Jarno Widar will ride the Ardennes classics and make his Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a debut<\/p>\n

At Lotto\u2013Intermarch\u00e9, they felt Widar had done all he could in the U23 category. Over the past few seasons, the team also had reason to worry about losing their top talent, with plenty of interest from elsewhere. But Widar stayed loyal to the Belgian project \u2014 and with the merger with Intermarch\u00e9, he now gets a stronger structure around him.<\/p>\n

In 2026, Widar will start with the Figueira Classic, before building through the Volta ao Algarve, Trofeo Laigueglia, Strade Bianche, GP Miguel Indurain and the Tour of the Basque Country, then shifting his focus to the climbing-heavy classics in April. He will finish his spring with Eschborn\u2013Frankfurt. In the summer, Widar has two altitude camps planned, along with the Tour de Suisse and the Cl\u00e1sica San Sebasti\u00e1n. After the Vuelta a Burgos, the next big step follows: his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

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\"jarno<\/p>\n

Widar in the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta, which he won in 2024 and 2025<\/p>\n

Widar tempers expectations in his first year as a WorldTour pro<\/p>\n

During a winter media moment, where IDLProCycling.com was present, Widar spoke modestly about his ambitions across that programme. \u201cWe\u2019ll see, but everything is going smoothly at the moment,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not expecting too much yet \u2014 I\u2019ll just do my best and try to get through the season safely. That seems the most important thing, especially as a first-year pro.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team manager Kurt Van de Wouwer indicated that Widar already has plenty of ambition, but that comment seemed to catch the rider slightly off guard. \u201cOf course the team has expectations of me, but they won\u2019t say them out loud yet,\u201d Widar responded. \u201cYou\u2019re paid as a rider, so expectations are always there. But the goals in my head are pointless, aren\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"seixas-widar\"\/<\/p>\n

Widar finished second in the 2025 Tour de l’Avenir, Paul Seixas (left) proved slightly better<\/p>\n

Widar prefers the Ardennes to Grand Tour ambitions<\/p>\n

It says plenty that, in his first year as a pro, Widar is immediately scheduled for a largely WorldTour programme. \u201cIf I had wanted to ride 1.1 races, I would have been better off staying U23,\u201d he said. And when it comes to his long-term profile, Widar was notably direct about the idea that he is \u201cthe next Grand Tour GC man\u201d. \u201cIs that the big goal? No,\u201d he insisted. \u201cEveryone expects that \u2014 at least, if I read the newspapers \u2014 but I like the Walloon classics much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fl\u00e8che Wallonne and Li\u00e8ge\u2013Bastogne\u2013Li\u00e8ge are races I love,\u201d Widar continued. \u201cThe Mur de Huy is only 40 kilometres from my house, so I hope I can excel there one day. But I have no idea if I\u2019ll ever be able to. I also don\u2019t really understand how the stories about me as a stage-race rider started. The stage races I\u2019ve done so far were at most a week or ten days long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"jarno-widar\"\/Jarno Widar starts a \u201cnew chapter\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe results in the U23 category aren\u2019t worth anything anymore,\u201d Widar concluded. \u201cI\u2019m starting a completely new chapter of my career. With the pros, I\u2019m back to zero.\u201d That is also why he is not claiming a leader\u2019s role. \u201cWith the U23s, the roles were clear \u2014 I could direct guys. With the pros it will be different. Because of the merger, the team has improved and the atmosphere is good. Everything is going smoothly and I\u2019ve got a good feeling about the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, Widar already appears to have a bigger voice than he might admit. Together with Lennert Van Eetvelt, he has been pushing hard internally to drive performance improvements. The team\u2019s switch to Orbea bikes is one example. \u201cI\u2019m coming from a Specialized S-Works, but the Orbea is at least as good \u2014 maybe even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLennert and I are a good team \u2014 we really try to help each other,\u201d Widar said. It could become a dangerous duo, because so far Widar is still riding a wave of excitement. \u201cThis is a dream coming true \u2014 racing in the WorldTour. Whatever comes next is a bonus. Nothing has to happen anymore. A childhood dream coming true \u2014 not many people can say that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Lotto\u2013Intermarch\u00e9, they are not hiding it: 2026 is a \u201ctransition year\u201d after the merger between Lotto and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,172195,242827,242828,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-477042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-idl-productions","12":"tag-jarno-widar","13":"tag-lotto-intermarche","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}