"You are turning me into a GC rider, but I don't give a damn" - Jarno Widar not bothered by futher time loss on stage 7

Cycling
Saturday, 29 August 2026 at 03:00
Jarno Widar ahead of Stage 6 at the 2026 Vuelta a Espana
Jarno Widar gave Belgian fans great hope with his second place on stage 4 that they might see their flag fly high in the battle for top placings in Vuelta's general classification. Even in absence of Tour de France runner-up Remco Evenepoel and after the abandon of Cian Uijtdebroeks. But three days later, Widar is 12 minutes down in 15th overall. What happened?
The cracks in Widar's armor already appeared in sixth stage when he finished 24th, 3:48 behind Tadej Pogacar. And one day later, on Friday's stage 7, Widar disappeared from the group of favourites the second Decathlon CMA CGM set a heavier pace at the front, eventually cruising across the finish nearly five minutes behind the red jersey.,

"I was really suffering"

"I was bad," Widar admits to Sporza. "Five kilometers from the finish, I was really suffering."
Widar then explains that, while he could've finished in a somewhat better time, he deliberately let the gap grow with eyes on a breakaway opportunity later down the road. "I thought: I can't get a good result here, because there are still twenty guys in the lead. I just let it go and gained time. We'll see what happens in the coming days."

"Not a GC rider"

Whether it bothers the young rider that he's slipping further down the overall standings? Not quite, as he points out that riding for GC in his debut Grand Tour was never the intention.
"You are turning me into a general classification rider. If you don't want to believe me, that is your problem," Widar states clearly.,
"I just saw something good on Twitter (now X). After that second place in Andorra, I said I wasn't going for the general classification. Are you disappointed that you're losing time? No, because I'm not here for the general classification, so I don't give a damn about that either."
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