The future glimpsed by Paul Seixas, brilliant, perhaps enormous, has begun to be written today in a definitive, incontestable way. The Frenchman, 20 years and 16 days old, has won his first Monument, the Giro de Lombardia, becoming the youngest cyclist to achieve victory in the Italian event. Until yesterday, this brand belonged to the Italian Giovanni Gerbi, the first winner of the dead leaves classic in 1905, the first edition of what is now known as the fifth Monument of the season. Gerbi, known as the Red Devil, was 20 years and 161 days old and reached the finish line 40 minutes ahead of the second after a crazy attack. Gerbi, a laborer in construction and whatever came of it, had what Seixas defends: courage, a touch of madness, audacity to lose in search of victory. The Frenchman's Tour was conservative, his World Cup disappointing, his entourage worried about the enormous expectation it arouses, which could wrinkle him, wither him. Lombardy has returned his smile.
Tadej Pogacar's misfortune in the last Vuelta has led to an electric, disputed, unpredictable cycling autumn. A World Cup of enormous beauty only marred by the poorly concealed help of Isaac del Toro to his teammate (not national team) Brandon Mc Nulty, has been followed by a Giro de Lombardia that was announced as superb... and was resolved without great emotions and by crushing: Seixas was a roller. At the start, not a single clear favorite but a handful of chosen ones willing to slap themselves to the finish line: Evenepoel, Seixas, Pidcock or Del Toro, the latter as guardian of the memory of his boss, Pogacar, winner of the last five editions of the classic call of the dead leaves. I wish Van der Poel and Van Aert had also appeared. There is nothing like the absence of uncertainty to kill the cycling spectacle. Cycling is attractive when at the end of a dogfight the best (not always the strongest) raises his arms. And although Pogacar is a spectacle in itself, its solitary rides end up being exercises in contemplation for the viewer with outcomes as well-known as they are devoid of intrigue. Cycling improves when the peloton looks like a boxing ring and not an army of office workers greeting the boss.
All the favorites had powerful reasons to win in Lombardia, the last of the season, the one that best fits the profile of the climbers. Evenepoel, second in 2024 and 2025, wanted to show that only he can reign after the Slovenian genius. Del Toro aspires to the same or something more: to be the next Pogacar. Pidcock, apparently the strongest in the fall, has a hard time finishing, which is beginning to make him desperate. And Seixas was missing: the kid, devastated by cramps and the shame of the last World Cup, would not have been able to bear to say goodbye to the course with another blank shot. According to his statements after the Montreal World Cup, no external pressure will be as severe as that which the Decathlon cyclist imposes on himself. In Canada, he only needed to bang his head against a wall without a helmet to illustrate his guilty speech.
With 20 kilometers to go, the Giro de Lombardía threatened ruin, a small setback explained by the fear of losing. She survived the classic escape, looking anxiously out of the corner of her eye. The men of Evenepoel (immense Pellizzari) and Seixas controlled the race, all the favorites crowded together, all expectant, all counting what strength they had left. Roglic or Ayuso were erased quickly. When push came to shove, it turned out that everyone was driving at the limit. Without strength there is no more spectacle than that of agony. Everyone except Seixas. He quickened his pace on the ascent of Civiglio (4.2 km at 9.7%) and the ripe fruit fell from the tree, crashing to the ground without a furious attack: Del Toro stuck, Evenepoel puffing, all scattered rubbing the ditches and Seixas flying. At the top, a 30-second abyss over an Enric Mas from whom no one knew quite what to expect, and just ten extra seconds for Giulio Ciccone, one who continues to chew the frustration of his terrible defeat in the photo finish of the European championship. At the finish line, Seixas extended the gap up to one minute, animal records. Mas, recent winner of the Vuelta, second under the banner (same as in 2022, after Pogacar), could not have dreamed of anything better. Seixas, you don't have to dream anymore. Your announced future has caught up with you.
