"I can’t perform miracles": Jarno Widar best among the rest behind Pogacar in Tour de Suisse queen stage

Jarno Widar must've imagine his debut professional season to go slightly differently, but the young Belgian's extreme talent is undeniable after put in once again an excellent ride at Tour de Suisse queen stage, losing only to Tadej Pogacar, when we exclude riders in the breakaway.

Widar's season has been long halted by a knee injury, but eventually the Lotto-Intermarché starlet made his racing return this month in Switzerland. And it's clear that Widar was excited to get going from his sixth place at GP Gippingen, a warm-up race for Tour de Suisse.

This year with a new five-day format, the race could've been decided at any moment, and Tadej Pogacar did not wait any further than until the first steep slopes on stage 1 to blow the peloton into pieces. Unfortunately for Widar, he was caught up in the crossfire and fell out of the general classification - his big goal - completely.

"Looking at the whole week, I might have failed my exam," Widar stated clearly to Sporza. "When it was already clear in the opening stage that I wouldn't be competing for the general classification, I focused my sights entirely on this final stage. In yesterday's time trial, I deliberately saved myself a bit."

Then the focus shifted to the race's queen stage 5 with two Col de la Croix ascents. There, Widar hung on with the best climbers such as Richard Carapaz or Enric Mas, and the out-punched every rider in his group to claim a fourth place - beaten only by Tadej Pogacar and two rider from early breakaway (Lenny Martinez & Bart Lemmen).

This result was a source of satisfaction to the 20-year-old, despite a bitter feeling from missed chance to test himself as a GC rider with Vuelta in mind later this summer.

"For today, I give myself an 8 out of 10. I had hoped to be able to test myself more for the general classification, but unfortunately, I can’t perform miracles. I couldn’t do an altitude training camp yet and I hadn’t adapted to the heat either."

The final stage played out in a rather controlled mannered, as compared to the erratic opening stage which saw Tadej Pogacar deliver a 70-kilometer solo. A strong group of roughly 10 climbers got up the road, and held a tight lead over peloton the entire day, but without notable accelerations in the pack.

In this state of affairs, the peloton arrived to the foot of final summit to Villars-sur-Ollon, where race leader Pogacar immediately turned up the heat with a swift acceleration, leaving no room for response to his rivals.

Widar immediately saw that Pogacar's pace was unbearable and adopted a more mature approach:

"When Pogacar attacked, everyone tried to follow him, but I immediately realized that I had to set my own pace. I knew I would blow myself up now if I went over my limit. I still need to check my values, but I never really struggled all day. In the end, I went all out."

Widar's next race could be the Tour of Austria as a bridge between Tour de Suisse and his Spanish block in August with Clasica San Sebastian, Vuelta a Burgos and culminating at the Vuelta a Espana.