![\"widar\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/widar-67e5677eb7eea.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
\nWidar\u2019s Momentum<\/p>\n
Jarno Widar arrives at the race in resurgent form. After abandoning the Giro Next Gen in June, the 20-year-old responded emphatically by crushing the competition at the Tour de la Vall\u00e9e d\u2019Aoste in July \u2014 a mountainous proving ground that has previously showcased riders like Thibaut Pinot and Pavel Sivakov. \u201cWidar is in superb form now,\u201d said Pauwels. \u201cThe Tour de l\u2019Avenir really suits him \u2014 it\u2019s his kind of race. But let\u2019s not pretend it will be easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Widar\u2019s climbing ability has never been in doubt, and in a parcours likely to feature serious altitude and hard summit finishes, he will be one of the key names on every team\u2019s radar. But standing opposite him is a rider Pauwels regards as potentially \u201canother step up altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Widar is seen as the future of Belgian cycling<\/p>\n
The Seixas Sensation<\/p>\n
Enter Paul Seixas. Still only 18, the Frenchman stunned the cycling world in June with a remarkable 6th-place finish at the Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9 \u2014 not in the U23 ranks, but in the World Tour race itself. \u201cPaul Seixas is a bit of a phenomenon,\u201d Pauwels said. \u201cTo finish 6th at your first Dauphin\u00e9 at 18 \u2014 it\u2019s crazy. If he shows up at the Tour de l\u2019Avenir with that level, then yes, he\u2019s at another level again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seixas wasn\u2019t just surviving \u2014 he was climbing with the best in the world. In a race featuring Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel, Seixas showed not only staying power but tactical intelligence and maturity far beyond his years. That performance alone put him on the radar as a generational talent.<\/p>\n
While Widar brings more experience and a proven record in the U23 peloton, Seixas arrives as a wildcard who\u2019s already proven he can hang with \u2014 and challenge \u2014 the WorldTour elite. If both riders hit the high mountains of the Tour de l\u2019Avenir in peak condition, their clash could mark the beginning of a new rivalry worth watching for years to come.<\/p>\n
Pogacar vs Vingegaard\u2026 The Sequel?<\/p>\n
The comparison may sound bold, but Pauwels\u2019 analogy taps into something real: both Widar and Seixas appear to be climbers of rare pedigree, developing rapidly, and seemingly destined for Grand Tour contention.<\/p>\n
The Tour de l\u2019Avenir has always been about spotting the next Pogacar. In 2025, it may be about watching the next two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Widar\u2019s Momentum Jarno Widar arrives at the race in resurgent form. After abandoning the Giro Next Gen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-334279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115006954799738016","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}