"New Pogacar" Jarno Widar went in with confidence, but after transfer threat now says sorry at Lotto-Dstny

He won Nokere Koerse in 2022 at age 16 with the juniors, triumphed in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne a year later, and started winning stage races. Lotto-Dstny had seen enough and committed Jarno Widar for 2024 for three years. On behalf of the Belgian team, he blazed his way into the U23 circuit, with overall wins in the Alpes Isère Tour, Giro NextGen, and Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta-Mont Blanc. However, things started changing after failing to have the legs in the Tour de l'Avenir. A departure was imminent? No, says Lotto-Dstny now.

In recent years, it has become a trend for young top talents to be recruited quickly by the biggest teams in the WorldTour. And so the rumors surrounding Widar snowballed when Widar seemed unbeatable with his style á la Tadej Pogacar. The world was at his feet until he crossed the finish line in the Tour de l'Avenir, a prominent U23 race, 28 minutes behind stage winner Pablo Torres (who cycled the "best teenage performance ever"). 

Harsh words from Widar to Lotto-Dstny followed afterwards at France's Direct Vélo. "I was exhausted; you can see that in my result. I told the team two months ago that I ride too many races, but they didn't listen to me, and now we see where that leads. This week showed that I should have trained more and raced less," he said.

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Jarno Widar was still supreme in the Giro NextGen

Widar cannot force departure, nor, according to Lotto-Dstny, doesn't want to either

The national coach of the Belgian team at the Tour de l'Avenir, Sven Vanthourenhout, looked at Widar's disappointing Tour of the Future from a different perspective. "It may not be so bad for him since the expectations around him were getting higher and higher. Just because he didn't win the Tour de l'Avenir doesn't mean he doesn't have a brilliant future. He has to learn from a race like this and deceptions like this. We are all very proud of Jarno, but he just wasn't ready for this race."

Het Belang van Limburg reported not long after the French stage race that Widar's words about Lotto-Dstny did not come out of the blue. The Belgian newspaper wrote that there were "cracks" in the relationship. "Meanwhile, we learned that Widar's management offers him to numerous top teams. Teams that, moreover, have no problem paying a buyout fee, which would reportedly amount to €25,000. Those four teams are Lidl-Trek, UAE Team Emirates, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Where especially the latter seems to have an edge over the others."

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Jarno Widar

Lotto-Dstny and Widar in talks, UCI complicates departure

It all turned out to be a storm in a teacup, wrote Het Nieuwsblad in early September. With a contract until the end of 2027, Lotto-Dstny is in a strong position, and the team made Widar a new offer, according to sports manager Kurt Van de Wouwer. "Jarno has indicated that he was not quoted quite correctly in the interview. It has always been our intention to adjust Jarno's contract. Our team aims to train young people and achieve success with them at the highest level. We are convinced that we can do the same with Jarno."

At Cyclism'Actu, general manager Stéphane Heulot confirmed that Widar does not want to leave and cannot. "We met with Jarno, his business manager, his manager, and Kurt. As he had heard, Jarno had questions that were very far from reality. He wanted to be reassured in terms of performance. Our project is growing, and we have nothing to do with other teams. We told Jarno we were unhappy with his statements, and he apologized. If we compare his season to that of Pablo Torres, Jarno did ten fewer days of racing. He's young, so you can't always be at the top."

According to Heulot, the €25,000 buyout fee is not accurate either. Moreover, a departure like that of Cian Uijtdebroeks from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe to Visma | Lease a Bike was different. "The UCI can impose sanctions on riders, teams, and agents. There has to be an agreement between all three parties, and we have had no word from other teams. In extreme cases, a rider can always break his contract, but then he has to go to court, which costs a lot of money and time. We're not going to do that. Jarno doesn't want to leave, and his financial demands are not impossible to us. Maybe he will stay on the training team for another year, but we can also change that."

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