The road season is slowly coming to an end, but there’s plenty of dramatic days left. Earlier, Sarah Van Dam of Victoria, took second at Tre Valli Varesine in Italy, and later in the men’s race, Toronto’s Noah Ramsay spent most of the day away.

Ramsay, who rides for Alpecin-Premier Tech, crashed in the early season and was sidelined for a few months. He crashed at the Étoile de Bessèges but returned to competition in April. The 23-year-old, who is part of the Continental team but races “up” with the WorldTour squad, had been in plenty of long breaks this year. He will return to the team of Mathieu van der Poel for 2027, so there should be lots more chances for big rides.

Meanwhile, Jarno Widar has his first professional victory, and he did it by beating two of the biggest names in the race.

Widar takes the win in Italy

The 20-year-old Belgian took the win at Tuesday’s Tre Valli Varesine and he did so in impressive fashion. The young pro outkicked none other than Tom Pidcock and Matteo Jorgenson after the trio broke clear late in the 198-km Italian classic.

The race, which serves as the final tune-ups for Saturday’s Il Lombardia, featured a stacked field. New world champion Brandon McNulty, Ben Healy and Quinn Simmons were there, and all were clutch in animating the race. It’s a tough race with around 3,000 m of climbing on the menu.


The decisive moves came as legs became increasingly tenderized inside the final 50 km. A late group went clear, but was caught with 15 km remaining.

Pidcock then made his move, with Jorgenson and Widar able to follow. The three quickly established a gap and stayed away to fight for the dub.

After a tense final few hundred metres, Widar launched his sprint. The Belgian immediately opened a big gap on Pidcock and Jorgenson, and neither rider could close it. It was a great win for the Lotto Intermarché rider.
Pidcock finished second, with Jorgenson third. U.S. national champion Simmons won the sprint for fourth.

There was more drama too in the race, but not the good kind. There was a collision that involved two of Pidcock’s teammates on Pinarello 36.5, Marcel Camprupí and Thomas Gloag.

“A police motorbike was going the wrong way down the course and crashed into two of our guys. From this point,” Pidcock said. “First of all, I wanted to stop the race, stop racing myself. I was mad. I had guys all riding in front of me, for me, and then two of them were on the floor. Luckily, Marcel was OK. He could continue. Thomas was also OK in the end, but he stopped the race. He had some stitches in the knee. This shouldn’t happen. But we continued and got back into the race and I’m happy that I could be on the podium. It was a shame I couldn’t win, but I’m so happy. Very impressive sprint by Widar.”

Ramsay finished 88th, with Oakville, Ont.’s Michael Leonard finishing 89th.