Paul Seixas ended his breakout season as a history-making Monument winner with a stunning victory at the Giro di Lombardia. The 20-year-old French prodigy became the youngest winner of the Classic of the Falling Leaves and the fourth-youngest winner of a Monument.
The Vuelta champion Enric Mas took second place, 48 seconds back, with Giulio Ciccone rounding out the podium just over a minute behind the winner.
Earlier, riders staged a brief protest, delaying the start of the race by five minutes to draw attention to safety concerns after a series of incidents involving non-race vehicles.
Once organisers completed the countdown for the start, the peloton remained stationary, creating a moment of confusion before Remco Evenepoel addressed the crowd. “There’s too many incidents happening with vehicles in the race,” he said.
“Unfortunately we lost the life of a brother and of a colleague of us, so we want to make this statement to show to the world we cannot keep accepting the fact that guys are getting injured or dying in what we like the most to do.”
Evenepoel was referring to the death of Finlay Tarling, the younger brother of Netcompany Ineos rider Josh Tarling. Finlay died after a collision with a vehicle during the Tour of Portugal on 14 August. On Wednesday, Thomas Gloag and Marcel Camprubi were struck by a police motorcycle travelling in the opposite direction during the Tre Valli Varesine.
Seixas launched a devastating attack on the Civiglio climb with around 19km of the 239km one-day classic remaining, and within a kilometre, he had dropped all of his remaining challengers.
Evenepoel was the first to flounder, followed shortly by pre-race favourite Isaac del Toro and then world champion Brandon McNulty. Evenepoel and McNulty eventually came home in fourth and fifth.
With Tadej Pogacar, the winner of the last five editions of Lombardia, missing due to injury, Seixas took his chance to end an incredible season as a Monument winner. It was only his third Monument – the five most prestigious one-day classics on the calendar – having finished seventh at Lombardia last year and second at Liège-Bastogne-Liege in April. Pogacar had won both of those.
This success completes a remarkable first full season in the professional ranks for Seixas. He was fourth at the Tour de France – his debut Grand Tour – in July, having won the Tour of the Basque Country and La Flèche Wallonne earlier in the year. He had also impressed in second-placed finishes at Strade Bianche, Liège and the Montreal GP.
But he endured a disappointing world championships last month, cramping up in the final stages and finishing 15th, although a week earlier he had won the time-trial bronze medal behind specialists Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna.
