Road European Championships: Jarno Widar wins under-23 men's road race title

Jarno Widar (Belgium) scored the win in the under-23 men's road race at the UEC European Championships in Guilherand-Granges, soloing to victory on the final lap of the hilly race.

The 19-year-old beat Maxime Decomble (France) to the line by 14 seconds, while Héctor Alvarez (Spain) led home a larger chase group at 46 seconds down.

Widar's win came via a last-lap attack, with the Belgian jumping from behind after Liam O'Brien (Ireland) had led the race onto the last lap. He'd leave behind a host of top contenders, including under-23 world champion Lorenzo Finn (Italy).

Senna Remijn (Netherlands) and Matteo Vanhuffel (Belgium) were chasing behind O'Brien at 17km to go, but it was Widar who had the most left to give on the road to the finish. He attacked on the race's final hill at Val d'Enfer (1.6km at 9.8%) to go clear at the front before soloing to the finish.

Decomble had taken off in pursuit, but he couldn't close the gap to Widar and would have to settle for the silver medal.

Further back, a group of seven would come home together in the battle for bronze. At the line, it was Alvarez who proved the quickest finisher. He beat Simone Gualdi (Italy) and Remijn to fill the final spot on the podium.

"I had a bad day at the World Championships a week ago. I'm very happy I was able to finish it off for my teammates today," Widar said after the race, according to Sporza.

"This jersey feels really good. Especially after last week, when I was quite disappointed after the World Championships.

"We made the race hard as a team. When Matteo gave me a leadout for the last climb, I went all out. I knew I could then recover for a kilometre on the descent, and then give it my all for another 3.5km to the finish.

"Of course, this title is more than a consolation prize. And I won against the best young riders in the world, because the world champion was here too."

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