Widar secures his first WorldTour win and crushes the Strava KOM on the final climb

It wasn't Tom Pidcock or Juan Ayuso, but Jarno Widar who won the Tour of Guangxi. The young Belgian from Lotto-Intermarché was the best climber in the final stage and ,in addition to the stage victory, also claimed the overall title. This brings a crazy October to a perfect close for the climber, who secured his first WorldTour victories in China.

It was certain that whoever claimed the stage victory on the climb in Nongla would also take home the overall victory. Visma | Lease a Bike and Pinarello - Q36.5 positioned their team leaders, but in the grueling final kilometer, Louis Barré and Tom Pidcock were expertly outpaced by Widar, who thus claimed his second and third victories of the season.

"That climb suited me perfectly," he exclaims on the Lotto-Intermarché website. "The pace was already very fast for the first two kilometers, but I was still a bit too far back, boxed in behind the trains of the other teams. On the flatter section, I was able to move up and felt I still had something left in the tank. It turned into a battle of attrition. I knew Pidcock would accelerate about 300 meters from the finish. At 150 meters, I felt I had to pass him."

He had previously won Tre Valli Varesine as well. There, too, he relegated Pidcock to second place. “It feels like I’m still in a dream and need to be woken up. My dream has always been to become a professional cyclist, but having won two major races in a week and a half just feels surreal. It’s my first victory at the WorldTour level, and to beat such big names again is unbelievable.”

Widar rode his first Grand Tour in Spain. After two excellent weeks, he finished the race somewhat quietly, but his peak form came afterward. “We knew I’d come out of the Vuelta in good shape. Then came the Italian classics, and we wanted to perform as well as possible there. We worked hard leading up to those races, and that allowed me to carry my good form over here to China.”

It took some getting used to being on the other side of the world. “First of all, there was the jet lag,” laughs the 20-year-old Belgian. “I really enjoyed this week. The team did a fantastic job. I’m glad I could finish it for them. Plus, racing in China is always special. The scenery was beautiful—that made an impression on me, too.”

Widar is wrapping up his first full year as a pro in spectacular fashion. He’s already shown some great form: after his spring season fell through, he put in a strong performance at the Tour de Suisse, and then finished second in the fourth stage of the Vuelta, behind Tadej Pogacar. And in October, he beat Pidcock twice. Even he’s a little taken aback by his progress.

"A few years ago, when I was a junior, I naturally watched cycling on TV. I saw riders like that win stages in the Giro and the Tour de France, become Olympic champions in mountain biking, and win other major races. I was just a junior myself back then. If I could ever race alongside those guys, I thought that would be fantastic in and of itself. But the fact that I can now beat them and take that next step is unbelievable.”

His impressive victory in China is made even more impressive by his Strava data. On the grueling climb to Nongla, he set a new climb record—and what a record it was: He was a full 21 seconds faster than the previous KOM set by Paul Double, last year’s overall winner. This was partly due to his comeback early on the climb: Barré, for example, took 31 seconds longer to complete it.