Cycling super talent Paul Seixas becomes the youngest winner of the Tour of Lombardy

Young cycling star Paul Seixas has been crowned the youngest winner of the Tour of Lombardy. The Frenchman single-handedly won the 120th edition of the autumn classic after 239 kilometers.

At the age of 20 years and 16 days, Seixas surpassed the Italian Giovanni Gerbi, who was 20 years and 161 days old when he won in 1905. In any case, there were only three riders who were younger when they won one of the five cycling monuments.

“It’s crazy,” Seixas said in an interview after the race. »It feels like a dream. I can’t realize it yet,” he added.

Vuelta winner Enric Mas from Spain and the Italian Giulio Ciccone reached the finish in Como in second and third place. Top favorite Remco Evenepoel had to give up on the penultimate climb and took fourth place.

Evenepoel's German teammate Florian Lipowitz, who had to give up the Tour de France in the summer after a serious fall, was surprisingly not in the squad published the day before.

Driver protest before the start

Seixas, who immediately finished fourth on the Tour, ended superstar Tadej Pogačar's winning streak in Italy. The Slovenian, who had won the race five times in a row, ended the season early after breaking his collarbone at the Vuelta.

It was already Seixas' eighth win of the season. He had previously won the semi-classic Flèche Wallonne and the Tour of the Basque Country. At the World Championships he took third place in the time trial.

The decision of the race came 18 kilometers from the finish when Seixas shook off all the competition on the steep Civiglio and could no longer be caught.

Before the peloton rolled off in Bergamo, there was a five-minute protest from the riders because of new safety incidents in the recent past. Evenepoel acted as spokesman for the field of drivers.

The French once again have someone on whom they can pin all their cycling hopes: Paul Seixas. The child prodigy should win the tour. You can read a portrait of the 20-year-old here.