Paul Seixas feared he would need "a little time to be able to digest" his poor performance on September 27 during the road race of the world championships, finishing in 15th place due to cramps. The new darling of French cycling has had two weeks to get his head back on track before tackling the Tour of Lombardy on Saturday October 10. Departing from Bergamo, the Decathlon-CMA CGM runner is among the favorites for the last Monument of the year, in the absence of Tadej Pogacar, five-time title holder.
We ended up getting used to the fact that with Paul Seixas, everything goes faster than the music: his explosion, his first successes, then the wildest hopes of a podium on the Tour de France or the title of world champion at only 20 years old. After what looks like the first “failure” of his career, the Habs will have to bounce back. "He's not the type of boy to ruminate too much about failure. He's a boy who quickly projects himself onto something else, reassures our consultant Lilian Calmejane. He really wants to win. After finishing second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the logical next step is to be a winner. Without Tadej Pogacar, frankly it's playable."
Seixas doesn't give himself time to think
Paul Seixas seems to have already turned the page on Canadian cramps. The Lyonnais took advantage of a visit near his parents' home, in Beaujolais, to ease his nerves and gauge the condition of his thigh. He set several records on the Strava tracking application, notably dethroning former runner David Moncoutié on three climbs. “I told myself that the day I come back, I will not do things by halves,” explained Paul Seixas on the platform.
These are even more severe climbs that the rider will challenge on Saturday towards Como. The route, 239 kilometers and more than 4,600 meters of cumulative elevation, is designed for climbers of this caliber. “For me, it is more plausible to see Paul Seixas winning the Tour of Lombardy than the last world championships. This terrain suits him better,” agrees Lilian Calmejane, who underlines the Frenchman's downhill qualities, a real weapon in a final in the form of a slide.
"Paul Seixas will certainly have to participate in the pursuit with his teammates, but we must not forget that UAE remains the best-equipped team. Del Toro showed that he was a slight step above him in the Tour de France, and also in Montreal. UAE will have the keys to the race."
Lilian Calmejane
ex-professional runner and France Télévisions consultant
To hold on over time, Paul Seixas has learned the lesson of Montreal where he believes he had a "nutrition", or "hydration" problem. It will only be more expected, while the Tour of Lombardy is frequently decided in the merciless climb of Civiglio, more than four kilometers at almost 10% average. There will then be around 16 kilometers remaining to get his second great Classic after the Flèche Wallonne last April.
If the legs are there, the head will count at least as much. Paul Seixas had been particularly hard on himself upon the arrival of the world championships: "I am extremely disappointed, not only for me because it is what I deserve, but for all of France, for the whole team which has done an incredible job and which does not deserve a leader like me", he reacted to the microphone of Eurosport. It was up to him to correct the situation under the colors of Decathlon-CMA CGM, while he assured a few days later on his Instagram page that he had “still learned a lot”.
The reunion with McNulty and Del Toro
The Decathlon-CMA CGM will have to prevent the UAE team from locking out the race, as it is so often accustomed to doing. The Emirati team had prepared the ground for Tadej Pogacar, winner of the last five editions of the Dead Leaves Classic. The task will not be easy, even without the Slovenian still recovering. The UAE team now has in its ranks the new world champion Brandon McNulty as a second (great) luxury option behind the Mexican Isaac Del Toro, third in the last Tour de France, ahead of Paul Seixas.
The Frenchman could find the sight of this rainbow jersey that he coveted an additional source of revenge. In addition to Del Toro, Seixas will face him Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), freshly crowned European champion last Sunday in Slovenia, after having retained his crown for the fourth time in a row in the Worlds time trial a week earlier.
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The two men are not untouchable, however. Remco Evenepoel almost let the continental title slip away in a poorly controlled final turn before winning by a few centimeters. As for the Mexican Isaac Del Toro, his impressive form in Canada did not translate into a podium, being too lonely against denser nations. Such a hunting picture would be enough to comfort Paul Seixas, an injured beast who only asks to show his juvenile teeth.
