Jarno Widar wins after late breakaway in Men U19’s race

Jarno Widar has won the Men U19’s Tour of Flanders. The young Belgian rode away from his fellow peloton escapees on the Wolvenberg and crossed the line solo 6 km later. The Dane Daniel Nielsen came second and Cedric Keppens was third.

A peloton of 147 riders set off from Oudenaarde for a race of 115 km. The course included no fewer than ten climbs and nine cobblestone stretches to sort the wheat from the chaff. In the first 40 km, nobody managed to break away. The peloton remained more or less compact until an elite group of six, including some of the favourites such as Jarno Widar, Duarte Marivoet and Cedric Keppens, attacked 75 km from the finish.

The rapport at the front was immediately good and as a result the lead quickly increased to more than a minute. Despite several frantic attempts to mount a counter-attack, the peloton eventually had to concede that it was beaten. Among the leaders, it was Widar who consistently performed best uphill. He was also the first to lay his cards on the table, but he could not get away.

On Berg ten Stene, Marivoet was the first to drop out of the leading group. Not much later, his teammate Paul Fietzke followed suit. With 6 km to go, Widar finally managed to ride away solo on the Wolvenberg. He held on nicely in the closing stages and triumphed ahead of the Dane Daniel Nielsen and Cedric Keppens, who won last year’s Men U17’s race.

Discover the results here.