Widar can’t finish off Belgium’s early hard work in U23 World Championship road race as young Finn secures rainbow jersey

In the first road races of this World Championship (Thursday in the women's U23 category, won by Célia Gery, and Friday morning in the men's junior category, won by Harry Hudson), we had already seen some tough elimination races. There were few breakaways, but the pace was increasingly fast. That was also the expectation in the men's U23 category.

With Widar, Belgium had the favorite at the start, but the competition was expected to be fierce. France had the ever-dangerous Maxime Decomble with them, Ecuador had outsider Mateo Ramírez on his own, Slovenia had Baby Giro winner Jakob Omrzel at the start, and Lorenzo Finn (Italy) and Pavel Novak (Czech Republic) were also contenders.

We had also seen the course many times by now. The lap in Kigali is approximately fifteen kilometers long and features two significant climbs. The climb to Kigali Golf is incredibly steep, while the Côte de Kimihurura also features cobblestones. The U23 men had to complete the loop at least eleven times, which amounted to 164.6 kilometers of up-and-down terrain.

Whereas we hadn't seen this in the first two road races at this World Championship, there was now definitely a breakaway group. Mohammed Alaleeli (United Arab Emirates), Danylo Kozoriz (Ukraine), Michal Pomorski (Poland), and Ramazan Yilmaz (Turkey) quickly broke away and built up a half-minute lead.

However, the peloton, led by the Belgians, kept up the pace. This meant that the breakaway riders were quickly caught up again, even after another courageous attempt by Kozoriz. This would ultimately remain the picture of the race for a long time: Belgium pulling at the front and thinning out the peloton, which had been long led by the strong Tim Rex.

It was Marco Schrettl who opened the final 63 kilometers from the finish. The Austrian accelerated and forced Widar to come out of his shell very early on. A subsequent acceleration by Héctor Álvarez then ensured that all hands were on deck among the favorites, and it looked like we were in for fireworks very early on.

The competition mainly looked to Widar to close the gaps, while the Belgian was already isolated. However, a new acceleration by Álvarez made it clear that Italy still had more riders, as they kept the gap small in service of Finn. Not much later, a group with some Belgians returned, and there was a brief period of calm, although the Spaniard was still ahead.

It was World Championship time trial winner Jakob Söderqvist who then accelerated. Álvarez was still ahead, but was joined by a few dangerous riders, including Finn. A group of six rode at the front, without Widar, who was in the chasing group about twelve seconds behind.

That gap kept getting bigger, so it simply didn't look like it was going to be Widar's day on Friday. Even when the gap reached a minute and the Belgian himself accelerated once more, the lead of the front-runners remained unchanged. Finn, Álvarez, Schrettl, the Swiss Jan Huber, the Norwegian Halvor Dolven, and the Pole Matuesz Gajdulewicz seemed to have flown away.

Of that six, Halvor was the first to drop out, but not long after, it was Finn who set a fast pace. Only Huber was able to follow the Italian, which meant that Álvarez, Schrettl, and Gajdulewicz were forced to chase. Meanwhile, the group of pursuers with Widar was already a minute and a half behind, after which the Belgian even had to let go.

When the bell rang, Finn and Huber had a three-quarter-minute lead over Schrettl and Gajdulewicz, while Álvarez was not far behind and would catch up a little later. The sixth rider in the race was now just under two minutes behind, so it was clear that the winner would be riding somewhere at the front, and probably right at the front. Widar heard the bell five minutes after the leaders had arrived.

Where would Finn break away from Huber? That would be on the very steep climb to Kigali Golf. Huber stayed behind, and the Italian flew away. Behind him, Schrettl rushed away from the Pole and the Spaniard, heading for a bronze medal. Not much changed after that, so Finn became world champion in the U23 category, Huber took silver, and Schrettl took bronze. The Italian from the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe development team is now, after Matej Mohoric, the second rider ever to become world champion in both the junior and U23 categories.